PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING Douglas County Board of Supervisors Thursday, September 6, 2018, 4:00 p.m., Courthouse Room 207C 1313 Belknap Street, Superior, Wisconsin Please call the County Clerk s Office (715-395-1569) if you are unable to attend. August 31, 2018 MEMBERS: Samuel Pomush, Chair Rosemary Lear, Vice Chair Peter Clark Ron Leino Michael Raunio A G E N D A (Committee to maintain a two-hour meeting limit or take action to continue meeting beyond that time). 1. Roll call. 2. Approval of the March 29, 2018, meeting minutes (attached). 3. Action items/referrals: 2019 requested budgets (attached unless noted otherwise): a. Budget proposals: (1) Child Support; (7) Emergency Management; (2) Circuit Court Branch I; (8) Communications Center; (3) Circuit Court Branch II; (9) Medical Examiner; (4) Clerk of Courts; (10) Probate; (5) Court Commissioner; (11) Sheriff Patrol Division and; (6) District Attorney; (12) Sheriff Jail Division. b. Referred from August 16, 2018, County Board meeting and District Attorney: (1) Resolutions from Burnett County and Sawyer County regarding increased compensation for criminal defense attorneys (attached); (2) District Attorney Fruehauf letter regarding increase in Assistant District Attorney positions in 2017-2019 state biennial budget (attached); and (3) Bayfield County District Attorney letter of support for additional D.A. positions for Douglas County (attached). 4. Future agenda items. 5. Adjournment. ec: County Board Supervisors Ann Doucette Susan Sandvick Candy Holm-Anderson Jaime McMeekin Kaci Lundgren(website) Tracy Ruppe Carolyn Pierce Shelley Nelson Tom Dalbec Lisa Johnson Michele Wick Kelly Thimm George Glonek Rebecca Lovejoy Keith Kesler Mark Fruehauf Jen Stank Darrell Witt Jerry Moe Bob Galovich Note: Attachments to agenda are available in County Clerk s Office for review or copying, and are also available on the county s website www.douglascountywi.org. Action may be taken on any item listed on the agenda. The County of Douglas complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you are in need of any accommodation to participate in the public meeting process, please contact the Douglas County Clerk s Office at (715) 395-1341 by 4:00 p.m. on the day prior to the scheduled meeting. Douglas County will attempt to accommodate any request, depending on the amount of notice we receive. Posted: Courthouse, Government Center, Telegram copied. Pamela A. Tafelski 08-31-18
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Douglas County Board of Supervisors Thursday, March 29, 2018, 4:00 p.m., Courthouse Room 207C 1313 Belknap Street, Superior, Wisconsin Meeting called to order by Chair Sam Pomush. ROLL CALL: Present Rosemary Lear, Peter Clark, Marvin Finendale, Sam Pomush. Absent Alan Jaques. Others present Jerry Moe, Donna Stone, Dani Miller, Chris Hoyt, Robert Galovich, Tracy Ruppe, Lisa Johnson, Dan Corbin, Michele Wick, Dominic Woodhouse, Rebecca Lovejoy, Kelly Thimm, Mark Fruehauf, Darrell Witt, Pamela Tafelski (Committee Clerk). APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion by Finendale, second Lear, to approve February 22, 2018, meeting minutes. Motion carried. UPDATES AND REPORTS: Budget reports attached/reviewed. Child Support New Child Support Investigator hired. Circuit Court Branch I Criminal cases higher year to date; attended meeting on domestic violence training and funding. Clerk of Courts March collection $28,123; tax intercepts $74,427; 500 files yet to scan from CCAP conversion. Court Commissioner Criminal case numbers increasing. District Attorney Controversial probation revocation legislation was tied to legislation that would increase funding for additional assistant D.A. positions; consequently the legislation died on Senate floor. Emergency Management / Communications Center Trainee for 12 th position hired; full staff in Comm. Center. Medical Examiner Assembly bill on coroner/medical examiner continuing education did not pass. Sheriff Patrol Division Two job offers made for 3 vacancies. Sheriff Jail Division One jail position filled; 3 to 4 employees moving from jail to patrol; jailer interviews scheduled to fill 2 positions. ACTION ITEMS/REFERRALS: Establishing Civil Process Fees for Sheriff s Department: Current and proposed fees reviewed. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Lear, second Finendale, to approve Sheriff s Department Proposed Civil Process Fees, amending Intra-Agency Paper Service - Rural to $50 and City to $40, and refer to Administration Committee. Motion carried. CAPITAL PROJECTS REQUESTS: Requests attached. Emergency Management: Credentialing-Tagging-Tracking System request of $14,250 reviewed; no other funding sources. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Finendale, second Lear, to approve Emergency Management request of $14,250 as presented and refer to Administrator and Joint Administration / Executive Committees meeting. Motion carried. Communications Center: E911 Equipment Update reviewed; estimate of $300,000 which was similar to upgrades five and ten years ago. Miller summarized features of the technological evolution. Douglas County Public Safety Committee March 29, 2018 Page 1 of 2
ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Lear, second Finendale, to approve Communication Center request for $300,000 as presented and refer to Administrator and Joint Administration / Executive Committees meeting. Motion carried. Courts: Memo describing need to plan for replacement of all three courtroom sound systems. Request is $10,000 set aside per courtroom for the next three years; $30,000 for 2018, with expected capital requests of $30,000 in 2019 and 2020. Total to replace three systems is estimated at $90,000 for a video-teleconferencing system with potential to reach remote locations throughout the state and other states. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Lear, second Finendale, to approve set-side of $30,000 for future replacement of sound systems in three courtrooms as presented and refer to Administrator and Joint Administration / Executive Committees meeting. Motion carried. Jail: Request of $5,445 to purchase Konica/Minolta Bizhub C287 Color MFP printer to replace printer and old copier. A second capital project request totaling $98,430 for an emar (electronic medical administration record) was distributed by Galovich but not on agenda. ACTION: Motion by Lear, second Finendale, to refer request not on agenda to future agenda. Motion carried. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Finendale, second Clark, to approve request of $5,445 for printer as presented and refer to Administrator and Joint Administration / Executive Committees meeting. Motion carried. Sheriff s Department: Request reviewed to replace 12 XTL5000/2500 radios with Motorola APX6599 at cost of $60,193.92. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Finendale, second Lear, to approve request of $60,193.92 to replace 12 radios as presented and refer to Administrator and Joint Administration / Executive Committees meeting. Motion carried. BUDGETARY TRANSFERS: Emergency Management request to release project funds for Parkland Tower site and radio repeaters. ACTION (REFERRAL): Motion by Lear, second Finendale, to approve transfers as presented and refer to Administration Committee. Motion carried. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: Jail capital project for emar (electronic medication administration record). ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Lear, second Clark, to adjourn. Motion carried. Adjourned at 5:03 p.m. Submitted by, Pamela A. Tafelski Committee Clerk Douglas County Public Safety Committee March 29, 2018 Page 2 of 2
DOUGLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY S OFFICE Mark Fruehauf, District Attorney Jennifer A. Bork, Assistant District Attorney Anne Terrien, Assistant District Attorney Angela M. Wilson, Assistant District Attorney 1313 Belknap Street, Room 201 Superior, WI 54880 (715) 395-1218 Fax (715) 395-1481 August 27, 2018 TO: FROM: State Prosecutor s Office Mark Fruehauf, District Attorney DATE: August 27, 2018 SUBJECT: Justification for Increase in Current Positions 2017-2019 State Biennial Budget Please consider this letter as justification for my request to increase the number of current prosecutorial positions in the Douglas County District Attorney s office from 3.5 to 6.0, starting October 1, 2019. The most recent District Attorney Workload Analysis shows that at present, Douglas County is short an additional 3.73 FTE positions. Knowing that I am one of many offices statewide suffering from this problem, I am requesting less than that number, an additional 2.5 positions, and will make that work effectively if they are allocated. Position #1 Increase 0.9 ADA position to 1.0 The 0.9 position is currently staffed by ADA Angela Wilson. ADA Wilson came to this office with more than 20 years of prosecutorial experience, having worked for the Kansas State Attorney General s Office and other county prosecutor offices in Kansas. To say that I was fortunate to have been able to hire her would be an understatement. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position and is able to take on difficult, complex cases. Having family in the area is what brought Ms. Wilson here. I am concerned with every day that passes that a neighboring county will have a 1.0 position open up, or that neighboring Minnesota, which pays its assistant prosecutors higher than Wisconsin, will have an opening. I am fortunate to have her here and increasing her position to full-time is a necessity. I have had to hire this position twice since taking office in 2017, and I am always at a disadvantage when attempting to fill it. I am competing against other counties that are able to offer 1.0 positions, and in the event I am able to hire someone for the 0.9 position, I am always concerned that once a 1.0 position opens up, the person will make the reasonable financial decision to leave for better pay and hours. I have previously considered increasing the 0.9 position to 1.0 at the expense of the current 0.6 position, reducing that to a 0.5. However, doing so would eliminate the ability of the 0.5 position to get benefits. Attracting qualified candidates to this area of the state is challenging enough as it is; not to be able to offer benefits for a part-time prosecutor (likely one who is paying crushing law school debt) more or less guarantees the position will either be filled on a very temporary basis, or not at all.
Position #2 Increase 0.6 ADA position to 1.0 The 0.6 position is currently staffed by ADA Anne Terrien, who came to this office with roughly 1 year of experience as a public defender in Jackson County, and I am fortunate to have her as she does excellent work. She initially came to this office in the 0.9 position, and when our county s corporation counsel had a part-time opening, she desired to go down to the 0.6 position and also work part-time for the corporation counsel (which pays $10 more per hour than her ADA position). Much of the same rationale for the increase in the 0.9 position applies to this position. Finding a qualified applicant who is willing to take on a 0.6 position, and to stay for a prolonged period of time, is difficult. Increasing this position to 1.0 will help me be able to competitively hire the position and retain qualified people. Position #3 and #4 Addition of two more 1.0 ADA positions As previously indicated, this office, when fully staffed at 3.5 FTE, is actually operating at less than 50% of what the workload numbers suggest it should be. Douglas County is roughly 45,000 people, but much like the Minnesota Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are sometimes considered one large area/community, the Twin Ports of Superior and Duluth are very similar. Our next door neighbor, the City of Duluth, has a population of more than 86,000. St. Louis County, Minnesota, of which Duluth is a part, is roughly 200,000 people. As a result, I am dealing with a large number of Duluth/St. Louis County residents who commit crimes in my county, in addition to the Douglas County residents who help comprise my caseload. Douglas County also suffers from one of the worst drug crises in the state. Taken from the Department of Justice s own drug statistics for the years 2013-15: For methamphetamine cases 1 : In 2013 we had 33 crime lab submissions, the fourth most in the state In 2014 we had 127 crime lab submissions, the most in the state In 2015 we had 79 crime lab submissions, the second most in the state For heroin cases 2 : In 2013 we had 45 crime lab submissions, the fourth most in the state In 2014 we had 33 crime lab submissions, the tenth most in the state In 2015 we had 24 crime lab submissions, tied for thirteenth most in the state These numbers are not per capita. These are the actual, unadjusted numbers, that are often putting us ahead of counties that are significantly larger, some having more than 10 times our population. 1 See Attachment A 2 See Attachment B 2
When I was sworn in as DA on January 3, 2017, I had already been to a homicide scene (from January 1, 2017), and an autopsy (the next day). I was also handed a fentanyl overdose homicide referral from a tragic incident that had occurred less than 2 months before my taking office, and that case is currently pending trial. I am often working 60-80 hours per week, including weekends, just on my caseload alone and not factoring in many of the administrative duties of my position. I am well aware that I am but one DA in a large state with hardworking, dedicated men and women in other counties who put in just as much time. Notwithstanding that, Douglas County is consistently one of the highest counties of need with regard to needing additional prosecutors. The last study (2012-2014) showed Douglas County needed an additional 3.07 FTE positions. That number has increased to 3.73 in the latest study. When you consider the drug crisis and the large influx of people from Duluth/St. Louis County that come into our jurisdiction, having additional prosecutors and being able to keep the ones I already have is essential. 3
Kimberly A. Lawton BAYFIELD COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY August 4, 2018 To Whom it May Concern: I am writing to show my support for the Douglas County District Attorney to receive additional prosecutors in the office. I ve previously worked in the Douglas County District Attorney s office as an assistant district attorney and have seen first hand the overwhelming need of the office. The office has increased in efficiency since the current DA Mark Fruehauf, has taken over. However, efficiency does not solve this public safety crisis. When a prosecutor office is so grossly understaffed, it means that victims wait longer for justice, that preparation for jury trials has to be limited, and that frankly people who are violent and a threat to our society get offered better deals because there is just not the resources to fight for better protection from that one individual. DA Fruehauf is doing an excellent job with the resources he has available, but the opioid and methamphetamine crisis is overwhelming the system. I urge you to fund additional staffing of prosecutors for Douglas County and across the State. It has become a crisis, and the time to act is now. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance in this matter. Sincerely, Electronically signed on 8-4-18 by: Kimberly Lawton District Attorney Bayfield County Office: 715-373-6111 Fax: 715-373-5996 bayfieldda@da.wi.gov 117 E. Fifth St. P.O. Box 487 Washburn, WI 54891