MCA executive board meeting

Held at the CJTC facility

MCA executive board meeting

Held at the Quinault Beach Resort facility

Present: Nina Cogswell, Larry Barker, Deena Kaelin, Regina Mack, Ed Tirado, Tracy Hoctor, Jenny Hill, Rick Bomar, Linda Eiford, Tandra Schwamberg & Tim Podhora

Absent: None

Nina called the meeting to order at 1834 hours

Minutes from the 10 April 2007 meeting were not available and could not be approved.

PRESIDENT’S DISCUSSION (Nina Cogswell)

● 120 conference attendees were registered at meeting time

● Manning of the conference registration desk will commence at 0800 hours

● Registration starts at 1000 hours

● Only one nomination was received for open positions thus far

● An extended discussion of the nominations process followed

● What to do if an award recipient is not present – just sent it to them was the consensus

● Discussion of whether or not MCA can/should be/or is complying with relevant IRC 501 (c) (3) requirements – board resolved to ask for Skip Houser’s advice on the topic after his presentation at the conference – action may or may not be necessary based on Skip’s advice

● Motion to establish a “probation standards” committee by some yet to be determined alternate name was made by Rick Bomar and 2^nd was by Tandra – motion carried – this MCA board action was seen as preparation for the revival of SB 5548 in the ’08 legislative session – a committee chair and members will be solicited from among the conference attendees

● Tim advised that due to a guest lecture engagement at The Evergreen State College he would not be available to take minutes at the annual business meeting – Linda Shaw, the past Secretary had offered to perform that function in Tim’s stead – consensus of the board was that the substitution of Linda Shaw was acceptable

● Deena Kaelin went over the last minute conference operations details

● Larry Barker asked for presentation materials via jump drive transfer for use in the overhead projection system – Ed was going to coordinate making that happen

● Regina discussed how we were going to obtain location suggestions for the ’08 conference – the location needed to be either a central or eastern Washington location to keep with the theme of alternating our East/Westside conference locations

● Discussion of the membership questionnaire to be distributed at the conference

MEETING ADJOURNED at 1930 hours

Misdemeanant Correctional Association

Annual Business Meeting

Nina Cogswell, President opened the meeting and declared a quorum at 12:34 p.m.

Minutes for the 2006 Annual Business Meeting will be presented for approval at the Awards Banquet on May 8^th.

Nina introduced each member of the Executive Board.

President’s Report: Nina thanked the Executive Board members for the many accomplishments of 2006-2007 year.

The board worked very hard with the Legislature toward a gross negligence standard for Misdemeanant Probation. There was a concerted, coordinated effort across the state to review the legislation, request letters of support from influential people, recruiting for attendance at all major legislative hearings. Through all this effort, SHB 1669 passed with a gross negligence standard! Special thanks to Karen Lewis for providing testimony at two hearings.

The board also worked very hard on legislation dealing with DUI assessment protocols, Deferred Prosecution for mental health offenses and offender re-entry.

Forward momentum with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to develop the Adult Probation case management system in the Judicial Information System.

Work with Sue Hubbard at the Criminal Justice Training Commission to continue to represent our interest in training.

Development of an Ad Hoc committee to work on probation standards for departments across the state.

Providing the 2007 Annual Education and Training Conference.

Vice-President’s Report:

Larry Barker reported on AOC’s statewide case management project for adult probation. AOC has restructured and is purchasing software that is already written. The request for proposal (RFP) has already been submitted. The timeline for implementation is 2008. Courts will be brought on to the system one at a time.

Past President’s Report:

Regina Mack did not have a report.

Secretary’ Report:

Tim Podhora was not present.

Treasurer’s Report:

Linda Eiford reported that this year there has been a considerable effort to collect conference and membership fees. At the bank’s request the regular savings account balance of $215.00 was transferred to the checking account.

Linda passed out the Treasurer’s Report.

MCA executive board meeting

Held at the CJTC facility

Present: Larry Barker, Courtney Bridgefarmer, Jenny Hill, Nina Cogswell, Gordon McConnell, Tandra Schwamberg, Ed Tirado and Tim Podhora

Absent: Rick Bomar, Linda Eiford, Mindy Breiner, Regina Mack

President Larry Barker called the meeting to order at 1012 hours and declared a quorum

Introductions went around the table

Minutes from the 10 April 2007 and 6 May 2007 meetings were submitted. Motions to approve the minutes as submitted were made by Nina Cogswell with 2^nd by Jenny Hill and Tandra Schwamberg with 2^nd by Nina Cogswell respectively. The motions to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Larry Barker)

● A meeting is scheduled for Larry and Pam Clark to with the Washington Corrections Association in Vancouver. More contact and cooperation is sought for the two organizations to work together on shared goals.

● Change of bylaws to reflect dropping of the IRS 501 (c) (3) status. Larry and Tim will draft revision language to share at the next meeting.

● Anthony Anderman, CJTC Regional Training Manager Eastern Region has offered to help facilitate a strategic plan for MCA. This effort would potentially help with where the organization is going and what we hope to accomplish as an organization? The board’s consensus was that Larry follow up on the offer to help with a strategic plan and report back on what’s next?

● Larry asked as to the whereabouts of MCA historical information, whether MCA was a corporation and who the registered agent was? The Secretary’s post-meeting research confirmed that MCA’s official name is “Washington State Misdemeanant Corrections Association”, the UBI# is 601082586 and our status as a “public benefit corporation” is active until 4/30/2008. Linda Eiford is the registered agent.

● Larry reminded everyone that the standards committee was meeting at the CJTC on 24 July. Larry was going to be unable to attend but others were encouraged to attend and get involved.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Rick Bomar)

● Rick was absent – no report

PAST PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Nina Cogswell)

● Wrap-up notes from the conference need to be followed up on.

● Recognition of the players involved in the passage of SHB 1669 at conference could have gone better. Board’s consensus was to send Karen Lewis a $25.00 Starbucks card. Tandra will draft MCA thank you letters to Representative Stroh, Tammy Fellin and Sophia Bryd-McSherry.

● What did we learn about recognition?

TREASURER’S REPORT (Linda Eiford)

● Linda was absent but Larry Barker submitted her e-mailed fiscal status report for the period ending 31 January 2007

● Total account balances = $38,007.79

● Linda offered the opinion that revenue was good and expenses fell within expectations.

● Linda reported that the resort had not deposited our check from the conference thus far.

● No invoice had been received from the conference’s motivational interviewing presenter Deena Cheney-Green. Ed suggested that maybe the e-mail address we had was wrong.

● Nina Cogswell moved to accept the e-mailed Treasurer’s report. Tandra seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

NOMINATIONS REPORT (Mindy Breiner)

● Mindy was absent -- no report

EDUCATION/TRAINING REPORT (Ed Tirado & Regina Mack)

● Regina was absent

● The committee members will each contact three places from the list of suggestions. Leavenworth, Chelan and Sun Mtn. (Winthrop) are among the suggestions.

● AOC has offered to loan us their equipment for conference voting which displays the results in real time.

● Larry suggested that training is needed on the Washington risk assessment tool. CJTC re-validated the instrument 3 years ago. The suggestion was made that MCA needs to get involved in the acquisition of assessment training.

● Gordon advised that a three question test has been validated as equal to the LSI.

● Larry suggested that the newly formed standards committee recommend a risk assessment tool.

● Ed wants to start gathering auction items earlier for the ’08 conference.

● Ed asked whether or not we had a list of suggestions coming out of the conference? It was established that Deena Kaelin had that list and that Nina and Ed would try to connect with Deena get get the list back to the Education Committee.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT (Courtney Bridgefarmer & Jenny Hill)

● Updating of the membership list is in process and it will be done for the conference.

● Discussion of a new class of “agency memberships” as a means of increasing MCA’s membership.

● There was a general discussion of the conference fee and whether or not the member vs. non-member fees were equitable for MCA and still not out of the reach of smaller jurisdictions? For those members who are required to attend the conference without support of their jurisdiction, scholarships are available.

● Gordon brought up the issue of MCA’s fiscal year/membership year, how some perceived that their conference attendance automatically renewed their annual membership fee and how there is lack of clarity for members on the whole topic. The consensus was that some explanation should go out to the membership on the topic to clear things up.

JCI/JIS UPDATE (Larry Barker)

● Larry reported that AOC is moving towards a core probation case management module for statewide distribution. By 2011 all other systems are to go away. Independent systems will require approval of the Washington Supreme Court. The RFP is to post on 13 July 2007. $64MM is slated to be spent on the project. The RFP’s finalists will be evaluated by AOC-assembled teams on 13 August 2007.

● A process for who will participate in the initial roll-out of the system has been established. Susan Frazer, Debbie Yonaka and Larry are on the evaluation committee. Larry was to appoint another member and an alternate. Thomas Ball and Greg Bockh were names the board suggested for possible inclusion on the committee but the consensus was that Larry should make the final decision with MCA’s best interests in mind.

● AOC is improving band width in advance of the new system to better facilitate use by all jurisdictions simultaneously.

● Nina asked about the plan for training so many users and Larry reported that the plan is for the successful vendor to have 60-70 trainers/staff to handle the task.

DMCMA REPORT (Keith Wills absent)

● No formal report submitted

DMCJA REPORT (Judge James Docter absent)

● No formal report submitted

LEGISLATIVE REPORT (Tandra Schwamberg)

● No activity for the committee yet.

● Senator Kline’s “X-filed” SB 5548 on probation standards will reappear in the ’08 session and the legislative committee will need to get involved.

● Tandra also reported that DOC has a new ICAOS coordinator. ICAOS training is likely something that should happen again considering the ongoing changes with the program. Gordon stated that he will inquire as to whether or not the CJTC can do regional ICAOS training.

● Tandra also reported that while at the judges conference to discuss ICAOS the topic of out-of-state treatment providers was brought up. Basically the message echoed what MCA had concluded in earlier discussions is that deferred Prosecutions with out-of-state treatment providers does not comply with the WAC as no out-of-state provider can be Washington Certified.

WTSC UPDATE (Tom Ripley absent)

● No formal report submitted, Nina had received an e-mail report but was unable to find it.

● Set the next MCA board meeting dates as: 9 October 2007; 8 January 2008; 8 April 2008; and, 8 July 2008.

● Should we e-mail out a newsletter – consensus was yes, but if we do we need someone to be proactive with the reporting

● The website needs to be updated or if that’s not possible for Regina in her present situation, an alternate should be designated to assume those website duties.

● Tim reported that he had been asked by Pam Clark to resign the MCA Secretary position after Clark County Corrections was re-organized under District Court. Linda Shaw has volunteered to fill out Tim’s term if the resignation actually takes place.

● Larry indicated that he will send out a reminder that MCA board meetings are open to the general membership if they wish to attend.

● To follow up on Tandra’s mention of out-of-state DP’s, Larry reiterated the DP’s done out-of-state violate the statute due to the fact that no out of state treatment providers are certified by the State of Washington – this item needs a legislative fix and it was recommended for further discussion and following business meetings.

MEETING ADJORNED @ 1302 hours

Misdemeanant Corrections Association

Executive Board Meeting

Criminal Justice Training Commission

Burien, Washington

9/25/07

Present: Larry Barker, President; Nina Cogswells, Past-President; Rick Bomar, Vice-President; Linda Eiford, Treasurer; Tim Podhora, Secretary; Ed Tirado and Regina Mack, Co-Chairs of Education; Jenny Hill and Courtney Bridgefarmer, Co-Chairs of Membership; Tandra Schwamberg, Legislative Committee; Mindy Breiner, Nominations Committee; Tom Ripley, Representative to Washington Traffic Safety Commission; Gordon McConnell, Representative to Criminal Justice Training Commission; Keith Wills, District and Municipal Court Manager’s Association; Judge Docter, District and Municipal Court Judge’s Association

Guest: Linda Shaw, Clark County District Court, Corrections’ Division

10:15, Larry Barker opened the meeting and declared a quorum.

Everyone introduced themselves.

Tim Podhora submitted his resignation due to a request by his Supervisor to resign, given changes in Clark County. The By-laws indicate that we can appoint a person by the vote of a board, until the next election. Rick Bomar made a motion to appoint Linda Shaw to fill the vacancy, Nina Cogswell, seconded, motion carried.

Rick Bomar presented Tandra with a plaque as an award with the Legislature. Rick asked that someone deliver plaques to Dayle Crane and Susan Fraser for their work last year with the Legislature.

Larry distributed the minutes for review. Judge Docter asked that we check the spelling of Representative Stroh’s name, possibly Strowe, and correct if it is wrong. Linda checked and the correct spelling is Representative Chris Strow. She will make a correction to the previous minutes.

Rick B made a motion to accept the minutes, Jenny 2^nd, motion carried.

President’s report: Larry will talk about the AOC committee activity later in the meeting to include the Probation Case Management system and business rules with court.

Vice President’s report: Rick Bomar reported on the Standards Committee meeting. Pam and Sue are pushing to change the name of the committee from “standards” to “best practices” committee. The goals remain the same. Pam will be sending out e-mail to department heads and committee members regarding state-wide “best practices” in: intake, case management, Pre-Sentence Investigations, violations, interstate, restitution, staff qualifications, oversight, terminations, community service, work crew, EHC, etc. They want small committees to work on various areas. Judge Docter indicated that Pam consulted with Mark Carey and they felt that it should not be called a standards committee so that Judges and Probation Officers in smaller jurisdictions not be bound by standards, but levels of achievement be voluntary. All departments may not perform all functions but the functions they perform will be done within these best practices. This would mean the difference between voluntary versus standards being incorporated into law that would not be possible for all departments to meet. Tim and Tandra indicated that the bill will be there because it was X filed last year so it must be considered. Tim recommends that if they mandate standards, that the state place a fiscal note to cover costs in each jurisdiction. Judge Docter indicated that the Committee meeting for November 5^th will be an all day focus on topics for sub-committee. Teleconference and e-mail will be one way that this will be accomplished.

Policies and Procedures were distributed at the meeting and Larry will attempt to get them out to the membership, hopefully, electronically.

Larry sees this “standards/guidelines” issue as much a watershed event for MCA as probation fees, liability legislation.

Past President’s Report: Nina reports enjoying her new found freedom in her position as Past President. She will begin attending the legislative meetings for Pierce County and perform that role for MCA as well.

Treasurer’s Report: Linda Eiford passed out the quarterly report. The total account balance is $29,605.42. The 2007 conference was one of the least expensive of recent conference, mainly due to the less expensive conference facilities. Linda E has not been able to make contact with Deena Cheney-Green regarding her reimbursement documentation. Larry suggested keeping money in reserve for a future time when her reimbursement comes in. Tim suggested sending her a written notice that after a certain date, the debt will no longer be good. Judge Docter suggested sending her a request by certified mail so we know if we have a good address. Linda has left messages on her voicemail, hoping for contact, but none to date.

Rick made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as written, Tandra seconded, motion carried.

Secretary’s Report: Tim reported on two tasks he was assigned, 1) The membership matrix project has not been completed, and, 2) Researching whether having a 501 C3 pushes the boundaries when we are active in the legislature. He is recommending that we delete Article IV. There would be a stike in article 10 and 11 as well. Larry wants the work done by the board and then presented at the conference next year. Linda suggested that we ask Skip to provide a written recommendation to the board upon which to base a decision. Linda E. asked how we it changes our income tax status. Tim indicated that we are still a public interest corporation so would still avoid income tax issues. Something to check is would it prohibit MCA from getting grants? Tim indicated that it wouldn’t effect grants unless the grantor requires 501C3 status. The political, legislative challenge is the greatest reason for removing this, since we are not suppose to advance any political agenda.

Tandra will contact Skip to arrange for a written recommendation with rationale to present to the membership at our next conference.

Membership Committee Report: Jenny Hill had no report. Rick asked if the committee had any recruiting strategies. Courtney and Jenny will discuss and come back with their ideas.

Linda E. recommends that we push that all memberships be renewed at the beginning of the year instead of at conference time. She suggested an email to individual officers in the hope for increased membership. Larry asked whether or not we want to consider raising the fee. Right now you get reduced conference fee if you are a member. There was no resolution regarding the raising of membership fees.

Other membership discussion, Regina asked about password protection on the directory part of the website. Larry will send a message to the directors about directory and membership information access on line.

Legislative Committee Report: Tandra talked to Tammy Fellon, there is no legislation at this time to put out. Tandra will remain in contact with both associations and keep MCA updated on any legislative issues.

Tandra indicated that the Association of Cities has concerns relative to dollars and the risk pool. They are a bit nervous about the “best practices” or “standards” committee. We need to continue to do what is best for MCA and misdemeanant corrections. Tandra will continue to keep them informed and work on concerns they have with any changes.

Education and Training Committee Report: So far the committee has checked possible conference sites in the Tri Cities area, Walla Walla and Leavenworth. Ed and Regina will get together and share information already collected and get it to the board for a vote. Available dates April, 20-23^rd, April 27^th-30th and May 4-7^th. They have checked for food and beverage minimums as well as how many rooms are available.

They have not progressed on a training focus or speakers. Ed reported that Deena just emailed him with topics. Larry indicated that he would like to see some training on risk assessment, perhaps the Wisconsin and LSI-R in two breakout sessions. Officer safety is another topic of interest to officers.

Nominations Committee Reporty: Mindy Breiner indicated that she has no report at this time.

Criminal Justice Training Commission Report: Gordon indicated that CJTC is getting a mental health trainer, improving the chemical dependency training and developing new Domestic Violence curriculum and trainers. Al Issac is open to looking at options for misdemeanant training; annual, semi-annual needs and topics, ongoing risk management training, MI, etc. The Adult Services Academy is not yet at capacity for October 29^th.

Washington Traffic Safety Commission Report: Tom Ripley reported that we did not get our grant for breathalyzer. The Traffic Safety Annual Conference is at Seatac Doubletree Hotel, December 11th-12th. Tom asked for 14 scholarships for MCA, approval through the board by e-mail vote. People that have not gone before will be given priority and attempt to spread across counties. Regina indicated that in the past the board has voted on scholarships. Scholarship includes less than 50 miles, conference and room will be covered by the state, and over 50 miles, conference, room, food and mileage will be covered. Conrad Thompson will be working on a video talking about some of the history of Probation. We haven’t had a topic that specifically focused on Probation for several years.

Tom suggested that MCA work with jurisdictions that do not have probation departments, to develop them. possibly using grant money or therapeutic courts. Judge Docter warned that there can be implementation problems with therapeutic courts due to need for designated docket, Judge, fiscal support, etc. Judge Docter indicates that he is presenting probation issues at Presiding Judge’s conference this year. He suggests presenting at the DMCJA once the “guidelines” committee has a report. “How to open a new probation department” might be a topic to take into that conference.

Larry brought up probation departments that closed due to liability to discuss how MCA may be able to assist in getting those departments re-opened. WTSC has provided grant money in the past but Tom doesn’t believe that there is any money available through WTSC today.

Tandra suggested that MCA have a very good program before we attempt to present at a DMCJA conference supporting the idea that we wait for the “guidelines” document to be completed.

Tom brought up long-range goals for MCA, where are we headed, Public relations needs, etc. Rick Bomar voiced concerns about getting ourselves spread too thin by taking on too much. Regina indicated that we focus on the academy and departments meeting requirements for Adult Services Academy. The RCWs are specific about going through the academy and we need to make sure the board members have met all requirements. Tandra suggested Regina look at the by-laws for who can be a member of the board. Larry reviewed Article 3, which talks about the board of directors but there is no criteria for who can be on the board other than be a member of MCA.

District and Municipal Court Judge’s Association Report: Judge Docter reported that the General Judicial Conference met in Vancouver. Pam came to present the “standards/guidelines” committee. The board assigned Judge Docter to be a liaison to this committee.

Judge Docter has been liaison to MCA for the last several years. This year probation has been a major emphasis; he will be presenting the Adult Services Academy with a new focus on gross negligence, probation revocation hearings, etc. He will also be presenting at the Washington Traffic Safety Committee conference.

Judge Docter is presenting with Harris Hartel to the Presiding Judges Conference in Yakima in December on how to ensure compliance with conditions of probation, whether bench probation or supervised probation.

Judge Docter asked about Larry and Pam meeting with Washington Correctional Association (WCA) to give them a briefing about MCA. Larry reported that the audience was primarily Department of Corrections (DOC) folks. MCA has not had a liaison with WCA in the past but it would be nice to get periodic updates if we provide them with information. The most recent newsletter included information that Larry and Pam presented on the “standards/guidelines” Committee work at MCA. Judge Docter expressed the need to open up communication and possible collaborations with DOC.

District and Municipal Court Manager’s Association Report: Keith Wills reports that the AOC website (SCOMIS/DISCIS/JIS) has a page where you can review what it will look like, 2008-2010.

Larry Barker reported that the proposed Administrative Office of the Court (AOC) databases, “probation case management” program will encompass all probation departments from DOC-Juvenile. AOC put out a Request for Proposal but no one responded. AOC ended up locating 10 vendors, 3 that can fulfill case management needs. The current recommendation is for Monitor by Loryx, with negotiations to $1.5 million. AOC left out functionality when they whittled down to $1.5 million, which is disturbing to Larry and others on the committee. AOC is still promising a case management starting in 2008, but by 2011, SCOMIS/DISCIS and JUVIS will all go away. The AOC committee will be developing business process engineering for probation. Just a matter to note, the Legislature is requiring AOC to show results by early 2008.

An request has been made of MCA to fund the meeting venue for the Probation “standards/guidelines” Committee close to Seatac when Mark Carey comes in. Larry suggested that AOC might be willing to allow us to use their room if available which is at Seatac.

MCA supports the Probation “standards/guidelines” Committee and is willing to authorize some funds to cover costs when the BJA Consultant comes in for meeting. Larry will send information out by e-mail as more information comes in and ask for a vote on specifics.

The old computer was purchased around 2001. Larry will research purchase of new computer and bring it back to the board.

Linda E. brought up the American Probation and Parole Association’s, “Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Week.” She suggested that this next year that we make efforts to educate the community on Probation during this mid-July event by having a proclamation signed by Commissioners of each county, letters to editor, open house, and general handouts. This last July she had special candy made up that Probation Officers passed out, a very creative way to support the emphasis. Linda E and Tandra agreed to do a short presentation at the next MCA meeting.

A question came up as to who had lifetime memberships, with a suggestion to give one to Fred Thompson if he does not have one already. Linda S. will research the minutes to see if we have given him one in the past and he simply wasn’t notified. If not, Linda E. made a motion Fred be given a lifetime membership, Tandra seconded, motion carried. Jenny suggested that we develop a lifetime membership list to add

Tandra indicated that if you join the Washington Correctional Association that the membership includes a membership to the American Correctional Association. She suggested that MCA members involve themselves in their association as much as possible.

Larry passed out a position paper on Deferred Prosecution involving treatment issues outside of the state. Treatment must be done by a certified treatment agency so Klickitat County Judges are not allowing any out of state DP cases. If they are qualified for ICAOS they would not be allowed a DP and be revoked if they moved. The 5-year jurisdiction has been questioned by defense attorneys. Judge Docter argued that the wording in the RCW relating to “program” and not “certified agency,” so stay tuned for the outcome of this decision.

Rick made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:54 p.m., TS seconded, motion carried. Meeting adjourned.

Minutes by:

Linda Shaw