Law Enforcement

DATE: March 9, 2006

The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Thursday March 9, 2006, at 9:30 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: Fordham, Carlson, Montgomery, Sinklair

Members Excused:

Members Absent: Tollaksen

Others Present: W. Schneider, Sauk County Humane Society; R. Stammen; R. Meister; J. Prantner; B. Hinze; M. Hafemann; K. Fults; J. Spencer; B. Manning; T. McCutchin

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 9:40 A.M.
2. Agenda: Motion by Fordham, seconded by Sinklair, to adopt the agenda. Motion carried unanimously.
3. Approve Minutes of Regular Meeting Held February 13, 2006: Motion by Carlson, seconded by Sinklair, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on Monday, February 13, 2006. Motion carried unanimously.
4. Communications:
   1. Sheriff Stammen told the committee that Department of Corrections Director Matthew Frank would be visiting the Law Enforcement Center at 1:30 PM this date as part of the Capital For a Day Event being held in Sauk and Columbia County. Governor James Doyle and other members of state government are visiting at various locations in the two counties for a series of meetings and tours.
   2. The committee was informed that the crime scene trailer donated to Sauk County law enforcement by the Sauk County Tavern League had arrived and was parked in front of the building for the committee to look at later in the meeting.
   3. A copy of the 2005 Donation Report was distributed to the committee members. This report was prepared for the Finance Committee and outlined donations of money and equipment to the Sheriff's Department as well as training made available to employees at no cost over the past year.
   4. Sheriff Stammen said that he had received notification that the Wisconsin Law Enforcement 1033 Program is being discontinued. The 1033 program provides law enforcement agencies with free government surplus equipment. In the past year Sauk County received rifles and a heavy-duty vehicle to pull the dive team trailer and the crime scene trailer. Stammen reported that both the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association and the Badger Sheriffs organization are upset about discontinuation of the program which will end on April 1, 2006. The sheriffs are attempting to come up with a plan to gather funding that will allow the program to continue operating.
   5. Sheriff Stammen introduced Toni McCutchin, the Administrative Assistant for the Security Division. She is involved with preparing a program to link the Sheriff's computer files with the District Attorney's Office to improve efficiency and cut down on the need to exchange paper documents. The project is part of a larger program being promoted by the Office of Justice Assistance to link law enforcement agencies' information together to create a better exchange of intelligence. The central link provided by OJA will not store data but will match queries with the files of agencies having stored data that would match a particular query. Stammen said that 29 law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin submitted program papers and of that number four were selected, one of which was written by McCutchin. She will be writing a grant for assistance from the Office of Justice Assistance to provide both software and hardware to link Sauk County to the central computer. The system is in place in LaCrosse County linking their multiple jurisdictions to a central location and LaCrosse County also has the Visions system that Sauk County has. Should Sauk County be selected to receive a grant from OJA, Sheriff Stammen said he would be coming to the committee to request permission to accept the grant. In addition to hardware and software, the grant will cover wages for implementation of the program.
5. Appearances:
   1. Sauk County Animal Shelter Operations Update

      Sauk County Animal Shelter Director Wendy Schneider reported that the appreciation luncheon for volunteers who work at the shelter was well attended. There were 4,000 hours donated by various volunteers in the past year.

      In January and February of this year a total of 109 cats and dogs were adopted from the shelter. The same period last year reflected a total of 65 adoptions.

      Schneider said she had been visiting other animal shelters to see what programs they have in place and Sauk County is looking into providing an interim care program which would give care to pets whose owners are hospitalized or temporarily unable to care for them. Cats and one dog were recently taken to a nursing home where the residents enjoyed their contact with the animals. The Baraboo News Republic did an article and ran a picture of the visit.

      Sheriff Stammen and the committee members visited the crime scene trailer. The committee agreed they wanted to send a letter of thanks to the Sauk County Tavern League for the donation and Sheriff Stammen said he would hand deliver it.

6. Review and Approval of February, 2006, bills for the Coroner and Sheriff's Department: Coroner Hinze said her February bills were for two autopsies and the rest for vehicle fuel and repairs.

   Motion by Fordham, seconded by Carlson to authorize payment of the Coroner's bills in the amount of $4,514.52. Motion carried unanimously.

   The Sheriff's February, 2006, expenses included payment for the crime scene trailer. The donation from the Tavern League to pay for the trailer was received in 2005 and was carried forward because the trailer wasn't received until 2006.

   Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Carlson, to approve payment of the Sheriff's February, 2006, bills in the amount of $120,487.29. Motion carried unanimously.

7. Report on Status of Claim of Pamela Kippley: Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman told Sheriff Stammen said that the insurance carrier for Sauk County and Pamela Kippley's attorney are in the process of negotiating a settlement with Kippley. Kippley struck the side of Deputy Stacy Helmich's squad car as Hellmich pulled forward after stopping at a stop sign. Kippley was operating a motorcycle when she struck Helmich's vehicle.
8. Opening of bids for 2006 Transport Van, Consideration and Possible Approval of Resolution Authorization to Purchase 2006 Transport Van: Two bids were received from vendors for the transport van.

   The first bid was from Kayser of Madison and Sauk City for a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. Kayser's bid was $20,496 which is the state bid price. Kayser offered a trade allowance of $2,110 for the 2001 Ford Windstar, for a final price of $18,386.

   Baraboo Motors also bid on a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. Their price was given only as the amount after trade of the 2001 Windstar and the bid was $20,483.

   Motion by Fordham, seconded by Sinklair, to accept the low bid of Kayser for purchase of a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan for $18,386 after trade and to approve the resolution Authorization to Purchase 2006 Prisoner Transport Van, and to take the resolution to the Sauk County Board of Supervisors at the March 21, 2006, meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

9. Discussion, formulation and approval of 2007 Form I Objectives, Goals and Mission Statement for 2007 budget preparation: Form I is due to the Interim Administrative Coordinator by April 4, 2006, as the first step in the 2007 budget process. The Form I reviews goals and objectives for the current year and whether or not they're being met, asks for short term and long term goals for the coming year and beyond. The form also asks for a completion date on the goals and attempts to quantify those goals and outcomes.

   The committee reviewed the draft Form I.

   Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Carlson, to approve the Form 1 Objectives, Goals and Mission Statement for the 2007 budget. Motion carried unanimously.

10. Sheriff's Report:
    1. Jail Report

       Captain Hafemann gave the committee members a report outlining statistics on medical data for inmates in 2005. Among items of note in the report is the fact that the jail nurses had 10,854 nursing contacts with inmates in addition to the other duties and responsibilities. The report is prepared as part of the annual reporting to the medical provider for inmate health care.

       There were 260 boarding days for electronic monitoring in January. Revenues were $4,161.75 and expenditures for equipment leasing were $1,436.18, leaving a balance of $2725.57.

       Out-of-county billings for February were $35,984 to Dane County and $59,020 to Rock County, for a total of $95,004 plus medical reimbursements of $1,309.

       Some of the programs being offered to inmates at this time are Art Therapy, Anger Management, a three-week long Job Skills class taught by personnel from ATTIC Correctional Services, Parenting classes and Cognitive Thinking.

    2. Communication Center Report

       Various vendors have given demonstrations of their E911 equipment and Communication Supervisor Dena Weinke has visited some Communications Centers around the state to see what equipment they're using and how well it's meeting the needs of the dispatchers for the enhanced 911 tracking of emergency cellular phone calls.

    3. Field Services Report

       The body found in a burned up truck in February has been ruled a traffic fatality.

       There were 114 prisoner transports done in February, bringing the year-to-date total to 232.

    4. Administration Report

       There was one Triple III report filed reporting a patrol deputy being bitten by a dog.

       Right now the jail is down four jailors due to resignations and promotions.

       February supervisor overtime was 9 hours for special teams training or call-out, 17 hours for investigative purposes and 4 hours spent working in lieu of ordering in a union employee.

       Sheriff Stammen said Sauk County will be accepting two highway safety grants in 2006, for a combined total of just under $12,000. The grants are for alcohol enforcement and speed enforcement. The terms of the grants do allow part of the grant money to be used to purchase equipment and two radars will be purchased and 2 light bars. The geographic areas where the grants can be worked for traffic control are so restricted that possibly few patrol hours will be worked. Stammen said sheriffs from all over the state are trying to get the Wisconsin State Patrol, which dictates the terms of the grants, to cease telling sheriffs where to do traffic enforcement because the areas they pinpoint aren't necessarily the most critical areas for added enforcement.

       Lt. Fults said two males had been arrested for burglaries which were done around the area and both were out on bond for previous burglary charges at the time they were arrested a second time.

       The committee was given a copy of the preliminary report for the 2005 Uniform Crime Reporting statistics which are filed with the State of Wisconsin and which track the number of crimes of various kinds committed in the past year. Violent crimes are down and property crimes are up. Fults said that a couple of the cases they worked in 2005 were for embezzlement of large amounts of money which raised the lost property value a great deal.

11. Adjourn To Date Specified: The next regular meeting will be held on Thursday, April 13th, 2006, at 9:30 AM.

Motion by Fordham, seconded by Sinklair, to adjourn the meeting.
Motion carried unanimously.

Respecfully Submitted: Joan Fordham, Secretary

(minutes taken by B. Manning)