DATE: August 6, 2004
The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Friday, August 6, 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, Sinklair, Fordham, Tollaksen
Members Absent: Carlson
Others Present: R. Stammen, B. Hinze, M. Hafemann, R. Meister, W. Wenzel, D. Weinke, J. Prantner, R. Meister. C. Fisk, T. Lohr, J. Tobin, D. Slaney, J. Welsch, J. Spencer, B. Kindschi, Manning
1. Call To Order and Certification of Open Meeting Law: The meeting was called to order and compliance with the Open Meeting Law was certified by Chair Charles Montgomery at 8:00 A.M.
2. Agenda: Motion by Fordham, seconded by Tollaksen, to adopt the agenda. Carried.
3 Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting(s): Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Fordham, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on Thursday, July 8, 2004. Motion carried.
4. Communications: Sheriff Stammen read a letter from the Sauk County Tavern League thanking him for his participation in their golf event fund raiser. The Tavern League is contributing $2,500 to the Sheriff's Department to be used toward the purchase of a canine in the future. Boris, the current canine, is due for retirement sometime within the next few years. The Sauk County Tavern League has in past years donated three defibrillator units to the Sheriff's Department
Sheriff Stammen reported that letters of appreciation were sent to the Huber inmates who helped make a number of improvements to the grounds and landscaping at the Law Enforcement Center.
A letter from the Lake Mills Chief of Police was read thanking Sauk County deputies for their assistance in the investigation of some suspects in a recent bank robbery in Lake Mills. Sauk County deputies checked on several persons who were in Sauk County and who were thought to possibly have some connection with the bank robbery in Lake Mills.
Iowa County Chief Deputy Jon Pepper wrote to express appreciation for Emergency Response Training that was held in the Village of Plain. Pepper praised the Sauk County ERT members for their contribution to the training, as well as the excellence of the ERT team. He expressed his wish to have more joint training in the future.
Sheriff Stammen reported that Sauk County Corporation Counsel had responded to the Capital Times Newspaper regarding their request for open records recently. The newspaper is looking for records of suicides that occurred in the Sauk County Jail within the past ten years. There were two deaths by suicide in that time period.
County Board Chairman William Wenzel, who was at the meeting, said that he was there, among other reasons, because of concerns about an individual who's keeping a tiger as a pet near the Sauk-Prairie Airport. At this time the committee opted to move to item 7 on the agenda, since Brian Kindschi, Chairman of the Town of Sumpter, was also there concerning the same issue.
7. Preliminary Discussion of Proposed Amendment to the Animal Control Ordinance Regarding Wild/Exotic Animals: Wenzel said the tiger, which is about half grown, weighs about 500 pounds and is kept in a uncovered fenced area. Sinklair said he had been at the residence where the animal is kept and also verified that the cage doesn't have a top on it. The person keeping the tiger is not violating any state or county laws by having the animal in his possession. Wenzel, Sinklair and Kindschi all agreed that this gap in the law had to be addressed for the safety of the populace. Several issues relating to public safety, along with the concerns about the living conditions of the tiger itself, were discussed.
Kindschi said that zoos and other areas housing wild animals are designed to maximize public safety while providing humane surroundings for the animals. Sinklair said that if an ordinance is enacted to address the issue of keeping such an animal it would be Sauk County's responsibility to determine the fate of the tiger if it's impounded. He had contacted the Vilas Park Zoo in Madison, as well as Oschner park personnel and neither was interested in taking the animal.
The committee all agreed that language in the proposed change must be worded so it doesn't stop people from keep animals for commercial ventures nor the ability of rehabilitators to have wild animals in their possession for the purpose of physical treatment and rehabilitation. The distinction between native species and nonnative species would prevent sanctions on a person who keeps a raccoon for a pet, or who operated a petting park for white tail deer.
Wenzel will continue to work with Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman in regard to amending the County Ordinances and both the Executive and Legislative Committee and Law Enforcement committee should have input into any proposed amendment.
5. Appearances:
a) Deputies Trevor Lohr and Diane Slaney were presented the Employee of the Month Award. Lohr and Slaney, two third shift patrol persons, were confronted by a man wielding a knife and were able to disarm the man and take him into custody without any injury. The man had earlier told someone that he intended to commit suicide by provoking a police officer to shoot him.
6. Review and Approval of July, 2004, Bills for Coroner and Sheriff's Department:
Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Tollaksen, to approve payment of the Coroner's July, 2004, bills in the amount of $2,822.71. Motion carried.
There were no items of note in the Sheriff's budget expenditures for July.
Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Fordham, to approve payment of the Sheriff's Department's July, 2004, expenditures in the amount of $118,792.59. Motion carried.
8. Review, Discussion and Consideration of Jail Bed Leases: A lengthy discussion took place regarding this item. Sheriff Stammen said he and Captain Hafemann had done some study of the issue because he had been instructed by Chairman Montgomery to do so. Some preliminary conversations have been held with Dane County Sheriff Hamblin, as well as with a number of other counties. Dane County, Iowa County, Richland County and Wood County have all expressed interest in leasing beds in the Sauk County Jail in varying numbers. The option of leasing beds is only feasible if A Pod is opened and staffed, either in whole or in part.
Although Sauk County is holding inmates for Dane County, and has held inmates for other counties the number that can be held is limited by the number of Sauk County's own detainees. Security Captain Hafemann said that he had projected revenues and costs in a couple of options. Tollaksen and Sinklair were concerned about any option that required the addition of staff and possible layoffs down to road. Montgomery said he believed it was possible to generate revenues of approximately one million dollars a year by staffing A Pod and renting out beds.
The committee agreed that an ad hoc committee involving representatives from the Law Enforcement Committee and the Finance Committee and members at large from other committees should be selected by Chairman Wenzel. The ad hoc committee can come up with options and suggestions to take to the full county board for consideration.
9. Report on WPPA Scholarship Award: The five committee members were given copies of essays written by high school students applying for a scholarship from the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. The scholarship is given out each year by the local bargaining unit. The committee members rated the essays, which were identified by number only, and the applicant with the highest score received the scholarship. Tracy Benesh, daughter of jailor Toni Benesh, received the scholarship.
10. Review, Discussion and Consider of 2005 Sheriff's Budget Request : Coroner Hinze presented her budget request first. She said there are no increases in her budget except in the salary and benefits areas. All other requests remain the same as last year.
Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Tollaksen, to approve the 2005 budget request for the Coroner's Office in the amount of $118,653. Motion carried.
Chief Deputy Prantner told the committee that a number of sizable budget expenses are not determined by the Sheriff or administrative staff of the Sheriff's Department, among them the requests from MIS for computer supplies and upgrades; the Board of Prisoners expense, which reflects the costs of meals for inmates; and the salary and benefit increases for employees. The Sheriff and the Chief Deputy had attempted to come in with a 0% increase but salaries and increases in the number of inmate meals pushed the request beyond the 0% goal. In addition the number of squad cars purchased last year was cut bumping up the number of squads to be purchased in 2005. The final percentage increase is 1.75%, an amount of $158,000.
The committee then reviewed the projected revenues for 2004. They were asked to present their to input and to make any changes they felt necessary. After a review of the revenues there was a motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Fordham, to approve the projected revenue amounts.
Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Tollaksen to approve the 2005 budget request overall. Motion carried.
11. Authorization to Dispose of 1977 Motor Home: Sheriff Stammen said the old command post is in bad shape and needs to be sold or traded. The unit would need a lot of work to keep it running and it's not feasible to repair it. The dive van, a 1985 Ford, is also in poor condition and should be replaced. One option that has been looked into is to replace the dive van with an enclosed trailer. All the dive equipment could be stored in the trailer ready to roll at a moment's notice and all administrative vehicles are equipped with heavy-duty trailer hitches, as is the army surplus truck that Sauk County recently received. The dive van often doesn't start immediately when needed because it sits for long periods of time. The battery goes dead and has to be jumped to get it going. Besides being a place to store the dive equipment, the trailer would offer the divers a place to change into dive gear. Kayser Ford in Madison has said they would sell us the trailer and take the dive van and motor home in on trade. Captain Meister said there's over $10,000 left in the vehicle replacement account that could be used to purchase the trailer. The committee agreed this was a good plan and authorized the Sheriff and Captain Meister to proceed.
12. Sheriff's Report: Sheriff Stammen reported the following information for the costs of the 4th of July circus parade and holiday pay:
A total of $2,119.84 was spent on equipment for the parade. The overtime wages for parade duty were $12,933.29 and the compensatory hours accrual was $3,373.45 for a total wage cost of $16,306.74. The overtime expenses for holiday pay for all other employees not working parade duty was $29,144.82.
There were 1871 hours of overtime accrued in July, 2004, and 401 hours of compensatory time.
There were 190 hours of supervisory overtime authorized in July.
The implementation of the vehicle registration service will most likely begin in September instead of August. The contract has been amended by Corporation Counsel and is now in the hands of the out source company for their review.
There were 418 boarding days in June for electronic monitoring and 20 inmates participated in the program. The breakdown of expenditures and income are:
$6,705.00 collected from inmates for the use of the electronic equipment
$2,277.37 paid out for the lease of the electronic equipment
$4,427.63 net gain
There were 129 prisoner transports in July, bringing the year-to-date total to 845.
Captain Hafemann reported there were 31 GED modules completed by inmates toward their GED requirements and four inmates completed all necessary modules and were awarded their GED certificates.
Sheriff Stammen said that one of the jailors who was scheduled to attend six months of training in the National Guard has left the Guards and won't be off work for military leave as reported last month.
A jailor was disciplined for an off duty incident.
There were 19,063 inmate meals served in July.
Lieutenant Kevin Fults said that Sauk County was not awarded a grant in the amount of $22,000 for negotiating equipment for which he'd applied. The Sheriff's Department will need to explore options to budget for this equipment.
The annual Jail Inspection by the Department of Corrections, Jail Inspector Bob Lee, will be done on August 12, 2004.
Sheriff Stammen said County Coordinator Wiegand had forwarded to Sheriff Stammen a copy of an article on Alcohol Abuse Court which has been established in Waukesha County. A copy of the article will be mailed to each committee member with the draft of the minutes of this meeting.
13. Adjourn To Date Specified: The next regular meeting will be held on Friday, September 3, 2004, at 8 AM.
Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Fordham, to adjourn the meeting.
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Joan Fordham, Secretary