Judiciary & Public Safety Committee

Wednesday, October 6, 2004 – 9:00a.m.

DRAFT MINUTES

 

 

Committee Present: Dave Wern, Chairman; Merwin Armstrong, Vice Chairman; Tom Hartnett, Larry Cornell, Kurt Behrenfeld, Marilyn Brown - Absent: Kay Breed.

Others Present: Scott Steve, Legislative Chairman; Scott Schrader, County Administrator; Angie Wyatt, Secretary to Scott Schrader; Bob Duell, Brenda DeRusso, Jim Willis, Toni Seamans, Mike Sweeney, Marty Coolidge, Rob Corpora, Jane Goldner, Carl Moses, Keith Dayton, Tricia Hansen, Dave Butler, Brian Liberatore

The meeting was called to order at 9:04a.m. by Chairman, Dave Wern.

MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL – 2ND BY TOM HARTNETT TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 MEETING – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

 

RESOLUTIONS

 

  1. Authorize Agreement-New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives (DPCA): Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument-YSAI Project – (Cortland County Probation Department - MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL – 2ND BY MARILYN BROWN – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

    2. Justification: This would provide screening, assessment and case management for juveniles and their families that are referred to the Probation Department.

  2. Authorize Agreement/Accept Funds-New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives DPCA-State Aid Funding 2004 (Cortland County Probation Department) – MOTION BY MARILYN BROWN – 2ND BY TOM HARTNETT – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

    3. Justification: This is to accept $174,500.00 State aid for the 2004 calendar year.

  3. Adjust Salary of Assistant Public Defender-Full Time (Public Defender’s Office) – MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL – 2ND BY TOM HARTNETT – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

Justification: Due to the increase in the assigned counsel rate, this increase in salary for a full time Assistant Public Defender would be a more comparable rate.

 

DISCUSSION/PRESENTATIONS/REPORTS

 

TLC EMERGENCY SERVICES: Tricia Hansen and Dave Butler were in attendance to provide a presentation of TLC Emergency Services. Tricia gave a Power Point presentation. Tricia and Dave Butler explained how Cortland County would benefit by having their dispatcher in the 911 Center. Dave also informed the committee that Helicopter coverage is now available to Cortland County.

ASSIGNED COUNSEL - PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE: The assigned counsel expenditures are presently on track but could end up being a large amount by the end of the year. Keith Dayton discussed the duties of assigning attorneys for conflict cases. Judges are no longer assigning attorneys.

COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCHER SOFTWARE PROJECT: Scott Schrader, Mike Sweeney and Rob Corpora provided information about this software project. It is a software that provide mapping of Phase II wireless cell phone E-911 calls; stream line call taking, dispatching and data entry of calls with easy to use, flexible, powerful, Windows – based software; make hazard and location alerts obtained by County and City Fire available to dispatch during a critical event; improve mutual aid fire dispatching with type, time and place based run cards; increase productivity with simplified, comprehensive on line reporting; integrated software that eliminates duplicate data entry and provides timely access to critical information; increase public safety by allowing officers to complete reports in the field; and decreases response times through the use of Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL). A portion of the bioterrorism grant could be used for this upgrade. MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL – 2ND BY MERVIN ARMSTRONG THAT A RESOLUTION BE PREPARED AND ACTION BE TAKEN AT THE NEXT JPS MEETING – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR - PASSED

DEPARTMENT BUDGETS: The following budgets were briefly discussed:

Sheriff’s Department: By Toni Seamans, Confidential Secretary to the Sheriff

Probation: By Jane Golder, Probation Department Director

Public Defender’s Office: By Keith Dayton, Public Defender

Fire & Emergency Management Office: Bob Duell, Director & Brenda DeRusso, Deputy Director

Weights & Measures: Carl Moses, Director

District Attorney & Coroners were not present

Angie Wyatt returned to the County Administrator’s Office during the department budget discussions.

After the meeting Larry Cornell advised Angie Wyatt that 2 items had been acted on during the budget discussions:

  1. MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL – 2ND BY MARILYN BROWN TO HAVE THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT DRAW UP A RESOLUTION TO HIRE 3 DISPATCHERS FOR THE 911 CENTER TO BE PRESENTED BEFORE THE NEXT BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED
  2. MOTION BY MARILYN BROWN – 2ND BY TOM HARTNETT TO ASK THE BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS COMMITTEE TO HAVE SIGNS PUT UP AT THE COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING SAYING " NO WEAPONS ALLOWED IN THE BUILDING" (SIMILAR TO THE SIGNS AT THE COURTHOUSE) – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

MOTION TO ADJOURN BY KURT BEHRENFELD – 2ND BY MARILYN BROWN – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED – MEETING ADJOURNED AT 11:45A.M.

Minutes Prepared by Angie Wyatt, Secretary to Scott Schrader

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