DATE: July 8, 2004
The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Thursday, July 8, 2004, at 8:00 A.M., in the Community Room, D102A, 1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, Wisconsin.
The meeting was properly posted and all interested parties were notified.
Members Present: Montgomery, Carlson, Fordham, Tollaksen, Sinklair
Members Absent: Others Present: R. Stammen, B. Hinze, M. Hafemann, K. Schauf, S. Pate J. Prantner, R. Meister. K. Fults, K. Alwin, Judy Johnson - Director of Sauk County Animal Shelter, B. Manning, Media
Sheriff Stammen read a letter from Probation & Parole Agent Gavinski of Dane County. Agent Gavinski complimented the staff of the Sauk County Jail for their professionalism and courtesy during all the contacts Gavinski has had with them.
Justice Benefits reported to the Sheriff that the amount of federal monies that Sauk County would be paid for 2004 from federal allocations related to the housing of inmates would be $12,277. A number of the federal allocations have been cut completely or reduced and that amount would most likely be less in 2005.
Chief Ken Manthey of the Portage Police Department sent a letter thanking the Sauk County Emergency Response Team for their assistance in a recent incident in the City of Portage. Sauk County ERT snipers and other personnel were able to resolve the incident without injury to the barricaded subject and other persons.
There were no items of note in the Sheriff's expenditures for the month of June other than the expenditure for squad fuel for the month of June to Conoco Phillips was more than $8,000. There were additional purchases at Cenex and Consumers Coop.
Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Carlson, to approve payment of the Sheriff's Department's expenditures for June in the amount of $105,730.48.
Motion carried.
Motion by Carlson, seconded by Tollaksen, to approve the proposed 2005 budget request for the Sauk County Animal Shelter and to make that recommendation to the Finance Committee.
Motion carried.
Chair Montgomery commended Johnson for the fine way the Sauk County Animal Shelter is being run.
Motion by Carlson, seconded by Fordham, to approve a resolution Authorizing Attendance of Four Sauk County Employees at the VisionAIR Fall Training Conference at Wilmington, North Carolina in October, 2004; to take the resolution to the M.I.S. Committee for their consideration on July 14; and if approved there, to the Sauk County Board of Supervisors on July 20, 2004.
Motion carried.
Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Carlson, to approve the Coroner's Mission Statement and the long and short term 2005 goals.
Motion carried.
The Mission statement for the Sheriff's Department hasn't changed for a number of years. The long and short term goals and programs were reviewed.
Chief Deputy Prantner referred to the Measurable outcome and performance information being requested as part of the 2005 budget process. He stated this was an effort by administrators for the county to assess the activities of the various county departments and improve planning and performance by department heads. The Annual Report for the Sheriff's Department contains the information needed to evaluate the outcome and performance of the Sheriff's Department. The format for the annual combined report of the various county agencies has been abbreviated in recent years but the Sheriff's Department continues to prepare a detailed report of activities and projects for the Sheriff's Department and will continue to do so.
Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Carlson, to approve the Mission Statement and the 2005 long and short term goals.
Motion carried.
The committee then reviewed the entire preliminary 2005 budget information prepared by Sheriff Stammen and his staff, along with the M.I.S. expenditures for hardware and software for the Sheriff's Department. Steve Pate explained some of the items to the committee and the necessity for them. Sheriff Stammen said that neither he nor the Chief Deputy had had time prior to the meeting to go over the M.I.S. Requests with Pate. Just a quick review by him and his staff had shown some areas that might possibly be reduced but until he'd consulted with Pate he wasn't sure if the cuts could be made or not.
Chief Deputy Prantner said that the preliminary 2005 budget request represented a zero percent increase if the cuts made to the M.I.S. 2005 requests could be omitted. There will be further discussions with Steve Pate to make sure the cuts are practical and to get a better understanding of the requests he'd included for the Sheriff's Department.
The committee reviewed the options and discussed each.
Sheriff Stammen said he thought Corporation Counsel should be contacted before the committee members actually scheduled a ride along to be sure there were no difficulties with Chairman Montgomery's request.
Supervisory overtime for June was 166.25 hours. The reasons included preparations for the 4th of July holiday and parade, highway safety grant patrol and traffic control for a triathlon at Devils Lake.
There are no figures available yet as to the circus parade. The Fourth of July weekend activities showed 49 prisoners were booked into the jail, 583 complaints were registered, there were 607 calls for service, 107 traffic stops, 143 citations written and 21 disturbances reported.
There were 354 boarding days in May for electronic monitoring. The breakdown of expenditures and income are:
$5,671.00 collected from inmates for the use of the electronic equipment
$1,896.70 paid out for the lease of the electronic equipment
$3,774.30 net gain
There were 147 prisoner transports in June, bringing the year-to-date total to 704
The year-to-date expenditures for housing and transporting juveniles is $42,245.96.
The recent Buckle Up Highway Safety grant resulted in 99 citations written for noncompliance and 2 written warnings. Other grant enforcement activities showed 136 citations for Highway 12 enforcement and 110 for general speed reduction enforcement. There were 15 arrest for operating while intoxicated.
Sonya Flower, a Security Deputy, will be leaving for six months of military duty on August 29, 2004.
On July 1, Guy Matthews and Harold Weinke were assigned to special services/patrol duties.
In May, 2004, 17,803 inmate meals were served and 19,150 meals were served in June.
The fourth load of eye glasses has been delivered to the Sauk County Jail by the Lions Club for cleaning and sorting. The program is very successful and Captain Hafemann said a large measure of that success is due to Security Deputy Tiffani Gruber's continuing efforts to keep it running smoothly.
The Sheriff's Department recently had an incident involving a vicious dog. The dog's owner was arrested for drunk driving and the while the officers were in the man's home arresting him one of the deputies was attacked by the dog. The officer shot the dog, injuring but not killing it. The dog was cared for by a veterinarian until Sauk County Corporation Counsel was able to obtain a court order to have the dog put down. The incident was investigated by an outside agency and the court will decide who will be responsible for payment of the costs incurred for the dog's care and subsequent euthanasia, Prior to the incident in which the dog was shot, there were other incidents involving the dog attacking or threatening people who lived in the area near the dog, as well as unsubstantiated reports that the dog had been declared vicious in another state prior to the owner moving to Sauk County.
On June 11th, 2004, there was a fire alarm in the jail kitchen. A dishwasher motor burned out setting off the smoke detectors and fire alarms. There was no damage.
Sheriff Stammen said that in the past the Law Enforcement Committee has graded the scholarship essays for the local bargaining unit. Each year the WPPA offers a $500 scholarship to a student pursing a law enforcement related course of study. The new committee members said they would be willing to participate in judging the applications. The essays are due by July 15th and they'll be sent to the committee members to read and grade. The winner will be announced at the August meeting of the committee.
Committee person Carlson asked if the letters thanking the Huber inmates who worked on the landscaping had been sent. Sheriff Stammen said he had a list of the men but didn't have addresses for those who've been released. He said he'd get it taken care of.
The matter of the water runoff area at the end of the LEC parking lot was brought up. The area is a water retention pit to collect run off from the surrounding area which can seep away and prevent flooding in lower areas down toward Farm & Fleet and Industrial Court. The area is a jungle of weeds and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The sides are so steep it makes maintenance very difficult. The area should probably be lined and filled with big rocks to prevent weed growth and provide a permanent solution to the maintenance problem. The committee said the matter should be referred to the Property and Insurance Committee so they can find a solution.
Respectfully Submitted: Joan Fordham, Secretary