Judiciary & Public Safety Committee

August 3, 2005 – 8:30 am (Note new time)

Committee Present: Scott Elston, Chairman; Merwin Armstrong, Vice Chairman; Kurt Behrenfeld, Kay Breed, Larry Cornell, Tom Hartnett, Ron VanDee

Others Present: Scott Schrader, Scott Steve, Angie Wyatt, Lee Price, Keith Dayton, Jane Goldner, Dave Hartnett, Rob Corpora, Bob Duell, Tricia Hansen, Eric Mulvihill, Brian Liberatore

The meeting was called to order at by Chairman Scott Elston at 9:40a.m.

MOTION BY LARRY CORNELL - 2^ND BY MERWIN ARMSTRONG TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JULY 6, 2005 – ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

Sheriffs Department

1. Abolish/ Create/ Create, Sheriff’s Department / Buildings & Grounds Department

Correction Sergeant/ Correction Officer/ Building Maintenance Mechanic – MOTION BY MERWIN ARMSTRONG - 2^ND BY LARRY CORNELL - ALL VOTED IN FAVOR – PASSED

Discussion: A Correction Sergeant is presently providing the building maintenance for the Jail and Public Safety Building. The Correction Sergeant will be retiring on September 23, 2005. The Buildings and Grounds Department should provide the maintenance for both buildings because maintenance for all County owned buildings should be centralized in one department. This would abolish the Correction Sergeant position, create a Correction Officer position and create a Building Maintenance Mechanic. The Building Maintenance Mechanic would provide maintenance services for the Jail and Public Safety Building. This would also allow for other county maintenance personnel and the new Building Maintenance Mechanic to cross-train.

2004 Annual Report – Probation Department – Jane Goldner – (To be a "Receive & File" to the Clerk of the Cortland County Legislature) – Jane Goldner briefly outlined the 2004 Annual Report and discuss issues in the Probation Department. Last week there were 634 individuals on probation. They have added one Probation Officer. There is a big push not to have people incarcerated. Jane spoke about the cases in Family Court that violate probation. The Committee is concerned about lenience on these individuals – there is always talk about keeping the jail population down, but the ones that should be there are not there. Scott Elston feels that County finances should not deter the public’s safety.

Positions- Public Defender’s Office – Keith Dayton: Keith Dayton explained that before rates for assigned counsel went up, judges were assigning attorneys. In 2004 the pool of attorneys has increased because of the higher fees. The Public Defender’s Office is back-logged in obtaining attorneys for conflicted cases. Keith advised the Committee that his department needs a person just to handle assigned counsel. It takes time to get the paperwork done. The courts coordinating their schedules needs to be part of the solution. Assigned Counsel is very high and judges are authorizing rates higher than the law. The Public Defender’s Office has no control over the vouchers that the judges authorize. If a Conflict Attorney’s Office was to be established, it could not be part of the Public Defender’s Office. Keith indicated that none of the conflicts are due to scheduling or workload. Keith just needs someone to spend half their time handling client applications and half their time doing the assigned counsel. Scott Schrader, Keith Dayton, Scott Elston and a couple of other JPS Committee members will meet  in a couple of weeks to come up with a plan. This is not a formal committee.

Emergency Phone Lines (Fire Advisory Board) – Merwin Armstrong – Merwin asked about the old 7 digit phone numbers that were used before the 911 Emergency System. Cuyler, Cincinnatus, Homer and the County still have them but do not need them. The Towns are not keeping them. The County does need extra lines for cell phones. All these lines are being terminated.

New World System/911 Communications – Scott Schrader – Scott updated the Committee on the new Communication System. It is progressing very well and the training for it went well. Scott also advised that he met the representatives of Time Warner for better communications on the Virgil Tower.

New Undersheriff: Lee Price has appointed Marty Coolidge as Undersheriff to replace James Willis. Lee will ask Undersheriff Coolidge to attend next month’s JPS meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35a.m.

Minutes Prepared by Angie Wyatt, Secretary to Scott Schrader

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