DATE: September 11, 2007
The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Tuesday, September 11, 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, P. Tollaksen, J. Wheeler, C. Montgomery
Members Absent:
Members Excused:
Others Present: R. Stammen; M. Hafemann; B Hinze; R. Meister; W. Schneider, Sauk County Humane Society; K. Fults; J. Spencer: J, Fry;
B. 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 Donald Stevens at 9:30 AM.
2. Agenda : Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Tollaksen, to adopt the agenda. Motion carried.
3 . Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting : Motion by Sinklair, seconded by Tollaksen, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on August 14, 2007. Motion carried.
4. Communications :
The Sheriff gave the committee copies of two communications. The first referred to a fine job done by Deputy Vodak in responding to a complaint in which a man had inadvertently been locked in his bedroom due to a broken door lock.
The second c ommunication was a copy of a letter sent to Robert Sinklair, the Secretary of the Law Enforcement & Judiciary Committee, from an inmate at Oshkosh Correctional. The inmate asked Sinklair to assist him with getting a form so he could file a complaint about an incident that took place while the inmate was in the Sauk County Jail. Captain Hafemann reported that the inmate had left the Sauk County Jail in 2005 for a prison sentence. State law requires that any complaints be filed while an inmate is in the facility against which a complaint is lodged; that the inmate was well aware of the jail rules governing the filing of complaints because he had been incarcerated in the Sauk County Jail and the Sauk County Huber Center seven times between 2003 and 2005; and he was issued a copy of the jail rules on more than one occasion during his incarcerations. In addition, the inmate committed several crimes while on work release from the Sauk County Huber Center.
5. Public Comment : There was no public comment.
6. Appearances :
a) Sauk County Animal Shelter Operations Update
The Shelter report was given by Shelter Director Wendy Schneider. A large number of cats and kittens are in the shelter at present. On a single day in August, 15 cats were placed in the Shelter. The Animal Control Officer handled 123 calls for service and there were 29 bite cases reported.
Schneider updated the committee on several fund raising efforts.
7. Review and Approval of August, 2007, Bills for Coroner and Sheriff's Department :
Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Wheeler, to approve payment of the August, 2007, expenses for the Coroner in the amount of $313.74. Moti on carried.
The committee was informed that there was a charge in this month's invoices for services rendered by the Dane County Bomb Squad. The bomb squad at Fort McCoy, which formerly handled such calls, is now stationed in Minnesota. They handled the calls free of charge.
Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Montgomery, to authorize payment of the Sheriff's Department's August, 2007, expenses in the amount of $126,148.10. Motion carried.
8. Sheriff's Report :
a) Jail Report
The committee received a copy of the programs report for the month of August. Two new classes have been added, an Employment Readiness class and a Fatherhood class . Five Huber inmates also assisted the Baraboo Fire Department with stuffing envelopes with letters and raffle tickets for a fund raising program.
Temp Agencies and some employers come to the Huber Center to take applications and interview potential employees. There is a sign-up sheet for full-time employment at Paul Bunyon in Wisconsin Dells. The sheet has been posted for a couple of days but no one has signed up to be considered for employment there.
Electronic monitoring equipment expenses for August were $1,815 and fees collected were $5,593, leaving a gain of $3,778.
Dane County was billed $89,711 for housing and $148.87 for medical expenses. The year-to-date revenue for housing out-of-county inmates is $732,528.48 .
b) 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 August, 2007, The calls for services received by the Sheriff's Department continue to increase.
c) Field Services Report
The year-to-date traffic fatalities is at 11.
The committee received a copy of the Highway Safety Grant results for February through August. There were 1,544 citations issued by officers working the grant hours.
There were 137 transports done in August, bringing the year-to-date total to 952.
The committee received a report on the number of papers served from January 1 through August. The statistics for each officer was noted.
There were four Triple III reports in August, a dent in the hood of a squad by a basketball hoop falling on it during high winds; an officer receiving a cut finger from a razor blade in a pocket during a pat down search of an arrested person; damage to the jail van during a transport to Racine; and a fall by a Probation Agent in the hallway outside of the jail due to a wet floor.
d) Administration Report:
The Sheriff reported that the 2008 capital outlay request had been reduced by $40,000. The request for the laser measuring device, the voice stress analysis system and the sniper rifle will be paid for from the drug seizure account.
There were 1,391.5 hours of overtime in August, of which 1,068 were paid and 323 were banked as compensatory time. Of the paid hours, 260 were spent working the highway safety grants.
There were 52 hours of supervisory overtime.
The annual jail inspection was completed the previous week by the Department of Corrections and the report will be received in approximately 30 days. Captain Hafemann said all initial reports were very favorable and that 70% of the inmates stated that the food is good. Only one inmate said he didn't like the food. The nurses' records were reviewed during the inspection. Every inmate who sees a nurse is weighed. No inmates have lost weight despite allegations that inmates aren't being fed adequately. The Jail Inspector told the Sheriff that he was unable to substantiate the claims in the letters to the editor of any type of food riots or lack of adequate food for the inmates.
9. Adjourn to Date Specified : The next meeting of the Law Enforcement Committee was set for Tuesday, October 9, at the Law Enforcement Center.
Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Tollaksen, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried.
Robert Sinklair, Secretary
(Minutes taken by B. Manning)