2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of  November 26, 2002  meeting minutes 

The minutes were approved as written.

(public comments)  There was none

3.

(DISCUSSION) Public Comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission.

There was none

4

(ACTION) Review and possible action to recommend FY 2003-04 Operating Budget reduction plan to full Commission

CPO Williams gave a short update to the budget situation, which has worsened since the last time the Commission met.  Not only are departments required to submit an average 10% reduced budget, but they are now asked to prepare another 10% reduction contingency plan in case the economic picture in the City does not improve.

The document distributed at this meeting represents the 10% reduction plan being offered by the Dept.

(The entire document is available through the CPO’s office at Youth Guidance Center, and will be posted on the Commission’s website under meetings, supportive documents, but some highlights to the document include)

·         A reduction of $120K from the Huckleberry Youth Services contract.

·         A transfer of 5 PO’s under TANF funding, to general fund, in order to capture reimbursement from Title IV(e) for eligible services—which amounts to approx. 50% of the PO’s salaries.

·         A corresponding reduction in the Children’s Baseline budget (Community Programs Division) of approx. $500K.

·         Closure of Log Cabin Ranch and contracting out the services to a private provider, or farming out referrals to other ranch programs at a per person cost.  The estimated savings would be $1.2 million, but there are some costs associated with keeping a closed facility (security being primary).

The closure would result in some staff being absorbed elsewhere in the Dept operations –eg. 4 counselors transferred to Juvenile Hall--, but some staff being laid off.

No assessment of the property’s value has been done, so it was not known how much selling off the property would bring.

·         Comm. Bonilla expressed his concern for staff losing their jobs and asked the Chief if he had had any conversations (with the unions) about the possibility of salary reductions as a means of not closing the Ranch.  The Chief said he hadn’t yet.

(public comments)

A representative from Huckleberry Youth Services acknowledged the difficult times faced by this Dept and asked in the spirit of continuing cooperation and coordination that the other service providers work with them to find alternative therapeutic services for the youth Huckleberry would have served, but for the reduction in funds and resultant loss of staff, and to continue working together to provide the network of services needed by these young people.

Ntanya Lee of Coleman Advocates commended the Dept on their attempts to minimize the effects on CBO services, and in examining the viability or advisability of the Log Cabin Ranch program, and encouraged them to continue thinking of ways to maximize the provision of services in this current period of tightening funds. She said it would have been useful to see how the cuts were distributed (by percentage) among the Dept’s divisions, as they had presented them last year.

She was still concerned for the CBO contracts, and asked the Dept to re think the cut to Huckleberry Youth Services.  She also asked for clarification of the Prop J funds which were to be moved to the repeat offenders program, as to legality of using them for youth in the system (as opposed to “non delinquent”).

She also questioned the value of spending $161K annually to maintain the JJIS database.

Rich Perino, President of the Dep. Probation Officers Association expressed concern that closing Log Cabin would result in higher Juvenile Hall populations, due to the extended time it would take to get them to out of home placements, or CYA –the other option.  Getting rid of the “last stop” option before CYA would lead to increased referrals to CYA.

5

(ACTION) Adjournment

Comm. Ricci expressed her desire to continue this meeting until February 13, so that she would have enough time to really review the proposed cuts, just distributed at this meeting, and for the other commissioners to be in a better position to act on it. 

It was decided to re convene on Feb. 13, at 9:30am at which time this discussion could be completed.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45am.