Law Enforcement Committee


DATE: April 10, 2007

The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Tuesday, April 10, 2007, in room D102A-Community Room, 1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, Wisconsin.

The meeting was properly posted and all interested parties were notified.

Members Present: D. Stevens, R. Sinklair, C. Montgomery, J. Wheeler,

Members Absent:

Members Excused: P Tollaksen

Others Present: R. Stammen; R. Meister; M. Hafemann; B Hinze; W. Schneider, Sauk County Humane Society; M. Koehler K. Beghin; T. Bychinski; T. Kriegl; B. Manning; Media

  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 Donald Stevens at 10:00 AM.
  2. Agenda : Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Wheeler, to adopt the agenda with items 9 and 10 removed.
    Motion carried.
  3. Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting(s): Motion by Wheeler, seconded by Sinklair, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on March 13, 2007.
    Motion carried.
  4. Communications :

    Sheriff Stammen stated he had received an e-mail from Judge Evenson commending Sergeant Bill Steinhorst and Court Security Deputy Kim Wasilewski for the excellent work they did on courtroom security for the Susan Wilk trial.

    The committee received a copy of an article from the National Association of Counties regarding loss of federal entitlement benefits for pretrial detainees. This item will be placed on the agenda for the May meeting since no one had had an opportunity to do any research on it prior to the meeting.

  5. Public Comment : There were no public comments.
  6. Appearances :
    1. Sauk County Animal Shelter Operations Update

      The Shelter update was presented by Shelter Director, Wendy Schneider. She reported there were 53 dogs taken into the shelter in March and 68 dogs were adopted. Ther e were 42 cats taken in and 54 adopted. The number of animals at the shelter has stabilized for the present.

      Ther e were 4 bite cases reported in March and the Shelter was given 14 free spays by students at the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School. The staff at the Shelter did fire training recently.

  7. Review and Approval of March, 2007, Bills for Coroner and Sheriff’s Department :

    Coroner Hinze reported March, 2007, expenses in the amount of $4,824.31, which included 3 autopsies .

    Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Wheeler, to approve payment of the March, 2007, bills for the Coroner in the amount of $4,824.31.
    Motion carried.

    Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Sinklair, to approve payment of the Sheriff’s Department’s March, 2007, expenses in the amount of $116,769.11.
    Motion carried.

  8. Discussion of A Pod Opening And Possible Resolution : Chair Stevens reported that he had received a legal opinion from Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman that leasing out the empty space to another agency was legal but no one is interested in doing that. Sheriff Stammen said that neither Dane nor Rock County would do it and neither would the Department of Corrections.

    Chair Stevens said that he had some questions he knew would be asked if the opening of A Pod were brought before the County Board at the April meeting. Those issues were covered.

    County Administrator Kathy Schauf had drafted a joint resolution for the Law Enforcement Committee, the Finance Committee and the Personnel Committee entitled Authorizing The Opening of Unit A in the Sauk County Law Enforcement Center.

    Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Stevens, to approve the resolution Authorizing The Opening of Unit A in the Sauk County Law Enforcement Center and to take the resolution to the Sauk County Board of Supervisors as the April, 2007, meeting. Motion called, 2 aye votes, 2 nay votes.
    Motion failed.

  9. Possible closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat. s. 19.85(1)(f), consideration of financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data for specific person, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except where par. (b) applies, which if discussed in public would have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or involved with such problems or investigations : This item was deleted from the agenda.
  10. Reconvene in open session : This item was deleted from the agenda.
  11. Sheriff’s Report :
    1. Jail Report

      Sheriff Stammen reported that four more inmates had earned their High School Equivalency degrees and 9 had earned their GED’s this last semester.

      There were 18 inmates involved in the electronic monitoring program in February with 379 inmate days. The cost of leasing the equipment was $2,084.50 and $6,443 was collected, leaving a balance of $4,358.50. There were no inmates removed from the program for violating the rules in the entire month.

      The committee was given a copy of the printout of the offenses for which people were booked into the Jail in March.

      Dane County was billed $88,524 .38 for inmate housing and medication in March, 2007. The year-to- date revenues are $269,067.91.

    2. Communication Center

      The committee received a report generated by the Communication Center Supervisor showing a break down of the calls for service for the month of March, 2007.

    3. Field Services Report

      There was a traffic fatality in March and one in April, bringing the annual total to three for 2007.

      Sauk County is currently working on three highway safety grants; one for speed enforcement, one for speed enforcement on the Interstate and one for alcohol enforcement.

    4. Administration Report

      There were five T riple III reports listed: a squad/deer collision that caused the deer guard to bend;

      a scratch on the door of one of the squad cars; a jailor who pinched his fingers in a cell door while serving meals; a jailor who slipped and fell on a wet floor; and a detective who lost his pager.

      Jailor Mitch Schauff has been promoted to the Patrol Division. Mike Stoddard was promoted from Detective Sergeant to Lieutenant of Detectives. An eligibility list is being created for Detective Sergeant. Joe Sabol was promoted from the Patrol Division to the Detective Division.

      There was no interest among the deputies to be the K9 handler. The dog was sold back to Vohne Lichte Kennels in Indiana and the money received was returned to the Community Fund from which the funds were originally disbursed to purchase and train the dog.

      There were 116 transports done in March, and the year-to-date total is 359.

      There were 1,102.9 hours of overtime in March, 768.5 of which was paid time and 334.4 hours of which were compensatory time accrued.

      There were 45.75 hours of supervisory overtime in March , 16 hours for investigation, 8.5 hours to prevent order in of union employee and 21 for team call-out or training.

      Officials from the Town of LaValle have met with the Sheriff and the Chief Deputy to discuss the possibility of their contracting with the Sheriff’s Department to provide police service for the township.

  12. Adjourn to Date Specified :

    Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Wheeler, to adjourn the meeting until May 8th, 2007.
    Motion carried.

Respecfully Submitted: Robert Sinklair, Secretary

(Minutes taken by B. Manning)