Misdemeanant Corrections Association

Executive Board Meeting

Criminal Justice Training Commission

2/14/2006

Present:  Marie McGuffin, President; Vice-President, Nina Cogswell; Linda Eiford, Treasurer; Linda Shaw, Secretary; Deena Kaelin, Co-chair of Education and Training Committee; Tracy Hoctor and Jenny Hill, Co-chairs of Membership; Tandra Schwamberg, Legislative Committee; Judge Docter, District and Municipal Court Judge’s Association (DMCJA); Larry Barker, JIS Committee; Bonnie Kosko, Representative to the Criminal Justice Training Commission; Tom Ripley, Representative to Washington Traffic Safety Commission; Glenda Ward, MCA Newsletter

Absent:  Regina Mack, Past-President; Ed Tirado, Co-chair of Education and Training Committee; Rick Bomar, Nominations Committee; Keith Wills, District and Municipal Court Manager’s Association (DMCMA)

Guest:  Pam Clark, Director, Clark County Corrections & Terry Sherwood, Criminal Justice Training Commission.

Marie opened the meeting at 10:02 a.m. and declared a quorum.

Linda S. distributed the 10-11-05 minutes for review.  Tracy moved to accept the minutes as written, Tandra seconded, no discussion, motion carried.

Pam Clark introduced herself and talked about the uniqueness found in Misdemeanant Corrections and the need for leaders to step forward to help preserve Misdemeanant Corrections through the many challenges that face us:  Liability, budget cuts, etc.  She discussed the need for standards for probation supervision and other community corrections work.  She would like to form a coalition of directors, policy makers for their jurisdiction. This would be a leadership group that would direct that standards are set in place, best practices, evidence based practices, policy, etc.  Pam indicated that she isn’t sure that Probation is viewed as a profession.  We need to educate Judges, boards, city councils, etc., about what role we serve.

Larry indicated that the Juvenile Court Administrator’s Association started out this way and is now a very strong group.  Tom indicated that probation has a public relations problem, how it is viewed by the public.  Tom suggested a sub-committee of MCA look at standards for Misdemeanant Corrections.  Tandra indicated a need for the policy makers to look at issues since they have access to their Judges, boards, councils, etc.  She indicated that standards and getting policy makers to understand the definition of misdemeanant corrections could go a long way towards professionalism.

Terry suggested making regional representatives to the coalition or director’s group.

Pam summarized by indicating that MCA must demonstrate that a coalition could work to move forward MCA’s goals of offender change, accountability, community safety and liability.  Pam asked MCA to look at a sub-committee to look at the issue of Probation Supervision standards and that she will pursue building a coalition.

President’s Report:  Marie indicated PBT Grant has been canceled due to Washington Traffic Safety Commission’s lack of funds.  She will continue to work to see if we can get the grant if funds come in the future.  She will send a notice of cancellation to all the departments that were to receive them.

Marie indicated that Deena and Tandra have done a wonderful job in their respective positions in education and legislation. Many kudos to both of them for their great representation and work for MCA!

Marie wanted input into the awards for conference.  Bonnie suggested that we set a budget for awards have and vendors tell us what they will supply for that amount.

Vice-President’s Report: Nina attends the Pierce County Legislative meeting along with their representative, bringing Probation issues to their attention. 

Past-President’s Report:  Regina not present.

Secretary’s Report:  Linda has nothing to report.

Treasurer’s Report:  Linda E.  We have less money than we did in September due in part to the retreat costing more than anticipated.  Our newsletter mailing has also drawn on the budget.  She received a notice from the bank on the regular savings account that hasn’t been used for three years.  She would like to transfer the money to one of the other accounts.  Deena made a motion to transfer the funds into the regular checking account, Tracy seconded, no discussion, motion carried.

Nomination’s Report:  Rick Bomar not present.  Nominations are coming in slowly.  Larry indicated that a nominations form could be attached with the conference packet.  Deena will make sure that gets sent.

Education Committee Report:  Deena thanked Klickitat County for the membership work they did for the conference packet. 

Regarding the training line-up, Carrie Trogdon-Oster is in charge of ICAOS and should be the speaker for the ICAOS training.  MCA needs to ask DOC for a person to provide the training since Carrie may not be available.  Deena will follow-up with DOC.  Terry Sherwood may be involved at some level in the training presentation.

Meals will be served with choices, which will be included in the packets.  Deena will need to know special dietary requirements.  Continental breakfast choice would cost $10.00+ with a plated breakfast running $12.50+.  Deena will play with the numbers to work at how many meals we can include.  

Vendors are paying an extra $60.00/person for meals.  Spokane folks have been working with Deena on getting vendors there and she is also working on a book table.

Cruise would run approximately $28.00/person which includes hors d’oeuvres.  25 person minimum.  Deena will require people to send registration for the cruise with their conference registration to make sure we meet minimum count.

Conference fee has been $90.00 for two years.  Prior to that, it was $100.00 for members and $125.00 for non-members.  Jenny Hill made a motion to up the conference fee to $100.00, Tandra seconded, no discussion, motion carried.  Marie brought up that Snohomish has already submitted $90.00 because of the posting on the website. Jenny retracted her motion. Tracy made a motion to leave the conference fee at $90.00 for members and $125.00 for non-members for this year and then increase member registration to $100.00 for next year. Tandra seconded, no discussion, motion carried. 

Membership Report:  Tracy and Jenny will be calling to get updates for the directory.  Calling people directly seems to be much more productive, getting more agency compliance.

Membership revisions in by-laws will be sent out with the membership packets for people to review prior to the vote at the business meeting. 

Tracy will be including some of the benefits of membership in the packet so we might attract new members:  Training, legislation representation, representation to the judge’s association, etc.  Larry would like to get information from all the board members and committee members in order to make a presentation to MCA of “Behind the scenes” at MCA.

Legislative Committee Report: Tandra indicated that the 2006 session is a short session. Whatever doesn’t get out of committee this week will probably be dead.

Bills of Interest:

SB 6852 – An act relating to state and local agency tort liability for the acts of supervised persons in the community.

            Probably dead. Will know for sure by 5:00 PM this afternoon

HB 1200 – An act relating to standardized chemical dependency assessment protocols.

            Placed on hold in the Rules Committee

 HB 2685 – An act relating to general provisions in the public safety employees’ retirement system.

            Referred to Way and Means – First Reading – February 14, 2006

 HB 2745 – An act relating to making driving or physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of intoxication liquor or any drug a felony – 2 or more prior offenses within 7 years – a class C felony.

Jan 12 – First Reading – Referred to Judiciary

These are the most significant bills. All updates will be reported via email.  Susan Fraser, Rich Higa, Lourdes Salazar, Pam Clark, and I were in Olympia for the Hearing on 6215. We signed in to testify for the bill but did not have an opportunity. That bill is dead, as is 6060.

WCIA sent a letter to Senator Kline on January 25^th, in support of SB 6215.  WCIA has issued a decision that “it will exclude coverage and defense for all probation supervision-related claims and lawsuits.”  The decision comes in response to Benskin v City of Fife. WCIA insures 117 cities.

Washington Traffic Safety Commission Report: Tom reported on the WTSC Winter Conference.  Law enforcement attendance was really good.  Enforcement wasn’t the only focus, it got to the need for offender treatment in order to really impact DUI and traffic safety concerns.  Barry Logan’s training included information demonstrating an increased rate of multiple drugs in the systems of those people involved in fatalities and serious crashes.

Criminal Justice Training Commission Report:   Terry would like MCA to address the Adult Services Academy at the beginning of each session.  CJTC is doing an April 6^th Regional training on field safety/office safety for Spokane County.  The next two regional trainings will focus on the Mentally Ill Offender and Domestic Violence Offender.  15 people minimum for any regional training, just contact Terry.

ICAOS training at the conference will be with DOC’s new administrator.  Terry will probably work with her on the training.

Bonnie went to the CJTC board meeting.  They are thrilled to have MCA involved and encourage MCA to use them for regional training.  The board has had staffing changes due to legislative changes, for example, Terry is covering broader areas and will not just focus on the Adult Services Academy and MCA issues.

District and Municipal Court Judge’s Association Report:  Judge Docter commented on the issue of probation standards.  Creating something that works for everyone can be a challenge.  If it is tied to legislation then it might serve a real purpose and may provide some level of protection.  Smaller probation offices may not be able to embrace the same performance standards.  To make it palatable to the legislature, they must be “doable” for everyone around the state. 

The DMCJA hasn’t supported the proposed liability legislation.  The Judges are very concerned about liability.  The implications of the Fife case and the Joyce case are bringing this to the fore.  The DMCJA has been asked to sign on an amicus brief.  The City Attorney for Kent is drafting the brief.  The amicus brief has to be filed within 60 days of the petition.  Committee members have not seen the brief so the association isn’t in a position to say they will sign on.  The association has decided not to file their own amicus brief.  The association is inquiring to see if liability exists with a true bench where a probation office is not involved in supervision/monitoring.  The Supreme Court has not accepted review of the Fife case at this point.  The opinion in the Fife case is an unpublished opinion according to Judge Docter and does not have the same weight as would be created if the Supreme Court made it “the law of the land.”  The committee from DMCJA feels strongly that the best strategy would be to keep this at the level of unpublished opinion.  If the Supreme Court goes ahead with review, the committee will decide whether to file an amicus brief at that point. 

Current amicus brief is due 3/28/06.  Following appeal, then another time frame probably begins for filing an amicus.

District and Municipal Court Manager’s Association:  Keith Wills not present.

JCI/JIS Report: Larry went to DMCJA to endorse a position for MCA to have a position on the JIS committee.  The JIS advisory committee responded negatively and left MCA off the committee.

Misdemeanant probation module was taken off the table with AOC’s project, but has been placed back on for Probation module in 2007.   The Washington Risk Assessment is available on line, Inside Washington Courts website, JIS/Projects/Washington Risk Assessment test.  Training on how to use the tool on line will be offered at the conference.

New Business: Marie wants to explore finding an attorney to give direction and advice to MCA.  Skip Hauser, for example, may be willing to advise us but we need to see how much that would cost.  Deena made a motion to research finding an attorney to find out:

1. What liability concerns exist for the board, and
2. Give advice when we get requests for support for issues and other legal issues.

Tandra seconded, no discussion, motion carried.  Deena will do the research on finding someone that is more familiar with misdemeanant corrections.

Linda E. moved that we see if Bill Cobb will do some legislative lobbyist work for us, Tandra seconded, no discussion, motion carried.

Public Relations is going to be more important in the future.  Bonnie suggests that we hire an administrator that will help make this a viable association.  As we face more and more complex issues, this would be something to continue to pursue.

The newsletter deadline is March 31^st.  Get Glenda articles and Linda E. will be doing all edits prior to the newsletter going out to the membership.

The next meeting will be on May 7^th, Spokane, Washington, 7:00 p.m. and location to be announced.

Deena moved to adjourn, Tracy seconded, motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Minutes by Linda Shaw 2/14/06  Happy Valentines Day!