2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of July 26, 2006 meeting minutes and June 8&22, 2006 Program Comm meeting minutes, and July 24, 2006 Finance Comm. meeting minutes.

Comm Queen, on the Full Commission mtg mins of 7/26, #7, last line, should read “Comm Queen emphasized that they should include the community contracts in the audit.”  Comm Beijen, on the Finance mtg of 7/24, #4, 2^nd paragraph, strike the word “with”,  2^nd pg, 3^rd paragraph, strike sentence about M. Lui.  No response needed to public comment.

With the noted amendments all the minutes were approved, 6-0.

(public comments)

there were none.

3.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission
there were none.

4.

(DISCUSSION) Chief Probation Officer’s report:

 The Chief reported on an end of summer program fieldtrip with 60+ dept-involved youth, and POs, on a Bay cruise.  Dept staff, supported by DPOA, City Youth Now, Zellerbach grant funds, and MUNI, organized this.  It was a very good event.

The Chief spoke about an upcoming informational meet and greet for parents coming to see their kids in juvenile hall (on Sept 9) to make the experience a positive, supportive, client friendly one.

The target completion date for the hall is Oct. 31, with a move-in sometime in the middle of Nov.  An opening ceremony is being planned for the week of the 23^rd or 30^th of Oct.

The grant application to the Zellerbach Foundation for a $600K/2-yr grant, is being reviewed by them.  The Dept is confident the response will be positive. If so, the Commission will need to do a receipt and expense resolution at its next meeting.

The Dept is preparing a request for a $ 2.6 million/3-yr  DMC grant from the Corrections Standards Authority. The Commission also needs to do a resolution to approve submitting the proposal.  G. Bieringer is drafting this grant.

Another grant application from the Corrections Standards Authority will target work with mentally ill offenders.

The Chief mentioned he was invited to participate in a MacArthur Foundation sponsored roundtable on juvenile justice, Sept 21-22.k,

• Report on request for Controller audit of Dept financial processes
• Update on YGC youth awaiting placement
• Update on the CARC cite-backs

The Chief said on July 31, a letter was sent to the Controller asking for an audit of the Dept focusing on the contracting process.  Peg Stevenson, of their office, called on the 21^st of August, but there was no clarity on next steps.

The Chief referred to a document (grid) that showed times/delays and said that this would be made part of the monthly Dept stats report.

Meetings between the Dept and CARC are going well and coordination and cooperation is increasing.  They are increasing the use of computer utilization at CARC, and capacity. 

Comm Fetico questioned the letter requesting the audit, and whether it limited it to just the issue of contracting. The Chief did not feel this restricted the audit to just that. 

Comm Beijen said he was satisfied with the updates on the placement waiting times, and the CARC protocols and that there needn’t be any further agendizing of this for Commission mtgs. (the Chief mentioned that this would be part of the monthly stats report).

Comm Hale had continuing issues and concerns about the long delays in processing from adjudication to a successful disposition.

(public comments)

Abraham, working inside juvenile hall with the youth, was concerned for the types of crimes youth are being detained for rather than being dealt with in social preventive programs.

5.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Possible action to approve recommended contracts with CBO providers, not to exceed $1.5 mil.

Lonnie Holmes reported that they expect contracts will be ready for approval by the Commission by the end of the month (by the next Commission meeting). Some of the delays are due to contractors not completing their paperwork (workplans, insurance, signed forms).

Ques: aren’t workplans part of the proposal submission?  Yes, but they need to be revised during negotiations. Comm Hale was concerned with the change in the process where previously set guidelines were not ultimately followed.  He was concerned with the capacity of support (nos served) given the reduction in numbers of CBOs.  He was concerned if revenues being used for certain services could legally be used for them (naming two examples: Brown Bombers, and LCRS). Specifically he said these were funds from DCYF and he didn’t know if they could be “RFP’d” out. L. Holmes said that all dollars coming to the Dept had to be let out in an RFP process, including DCYF monies.  Comm Hale asked the Dep. City Attorney to offer an opinion on this because he heard that they weren’t supposed to be used in an RFP process. R. Katz said she could look into it.

Comm Fetico questioned how these contract services would be evaluated.

The Chief asked if these questions needed to be resolved before the contracts are presented for Commission approval.

There was a question about evaluating services not as a process (eg. how many attended, did the activity, how many activities were done, etc. etc.) but as an outcome/impact (what resulted from the service in behavior/attitude changes), and how effective the intervention was.

The Chief commented that there is a holdback of 10% of the contract amounts, dependent on completion of an evaluation of their services’ successes.  He said intended outcomes need to be matched with the scope of their programs, but this will be the first time that such elements of evaluation will be required so it needs to be worked up successively.

Comm Fetico asked if some of the already completed contracts needed Commission approval. L. Holmes said that these were approved 2 yrs ago from an RFP process, and if they performed satisfactorily, in subsequent years the Dept could just proceed on.

R. Katz, Dep. City Attorney, said that contracts are only paid if there are available funds.  The contracts are not for 3 yrs but one year with eligible renewals for the next 2 yrs. The answer to whether the Commission needs to approve them is not a legal issue but procedural.  Legally the Commission isn’t required to approve any contract. It has been past practice for this Commission to approve contracts. With respect to multi year contracts, if the Commission wants to change how it deals with these, it should be discussed with the Dept head.

Pres. Stiglich said that this item will be carried to the Sept 27 meeting, with a proviso that if action needed to be done before that, the Commission would call a special meeting to act on it.                                                               

(public comments)

Jessica Hazard commented that a recommendation/guideline of the Local Action Plan was that the funds should go exclusively or primarily to serving youth in the system (on probation). As to the 10% holdback on contracts, she said that CBOs have no problem with accountability, but they hope that everyone (including Dept staff) will be held accountable.  If the CBOs don’t get referrals from POs (the Dept) their effectiveness is compromised.  She also said that hopefully the records system (CMS) has appropriate places where results and outcomes can be recorded and accessed.  In the past there were times where results could not be inputted into the database so their results of their work were not reflected.

There was a discussion about awareness of this problem, the coordination among all partners involved in the process (DA, PD, courts, JPD, CBOs) and agreement on protocols. There are meetings going on about this, but nothing formal is in place.  Comm Queen asked that this be made concrete.

Norma Hotaling, SAGE, also echoed the need to get cooperation and collaboration with the Dept staff to get services to youth.  She expressed concern that the evening reporting centers will be disconnected with the probation dept due to its funding from MOCJ.

Toni Powell commented that Judge Mahoney once said it wasn’t the POs keeping youth detained, but lack of confidence in the CBOs that did.  She said that there needed to be an improvement in both the effectiveness of CBOs and the perception of their effectiveness.

6.

(DISCUSSION) Oversight and management responsibilities.

President Stiglich took this off the agenda for the time being.

(public comments)

7.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Resolution of commendation for past Commissioners. 

Comm Hale said he would have this ready for the next meeting.
(public comments)

8.

(DISCUSSION) Committee reports, other reports

• Program committee
• Finance committee
• Facilities committee
• Ad Hoc committee on performance evaluations

Comm Fetico highlighted some of the discussions held.  The programming at LCRS was looked at and some of the problems that have arisen from the changing population characteristics.  There need to be more vocational programs developed and an effective aftercare program.  Some of the limitations to what can be done to repair the facility also were discussed. 

The Chief said that he is in discussions with the courts about not referring older youth to LCRS.

Programs in juvenile hall seem to be going on consistently. They are laying plans for how to operate in the new facility’s floor plan.

Comm Beijen reported on his look into the girls’ services in the Dept (requested by Comm Hale). He had a set of recommendations as a result but will not be acted upon tonight. (the report - recommendations available on the JPC web page).

There was a short discussion about the wording of the recommendations, but no conclusions were reached.  Commissioner Queen suggested the Program Committee take this issue back to committee and further discuss it with a wider audience of providers and then refine the recommendations for the full Commission.

Comm Beijen said there was nothing new to report at this time.

Comm Rojas said that they plan to meet before the end of the month.

Comm Queen said that this was a work in progress and broad categories were laid out for measuring the Chief’s work, but it will be discussed more with him in person, now that he is back from vacation.

President Stiglich said she appreciated the feedback from commissioners on her reconfiguration of committee membership.

(public comments)

Abraham was concerned about the lack of an aftercare program for LCRS youth as well as a pre release program.  He felt that POs needed an attitude change and need to learn more about the CBO services available.  He emphasized that since 2000, 30 youth released from LCRS have been murdered. He said that 50% of those were killed by another person who had also been at the ranch.

Maru Salazar, Come Into the Sun program, was concerned that other CBOs who work with girls and the Dept were not part of those in the discussion that resulted in the recommendations from the Program Committee.  There hasn’t been an equitable process used to connect girls to services that could benefit them (eg. the Come into the Sun program hasn’t had a referral from the Girls Justice Initiative in the past 3 yrs).

Norma Hotaling, SAGE, was not aware of the topic being on the agenda, and wanted to be part of the overall discussion.  She mentioned that the Dept of Justice has chosen SAGE as a national replication program.  She mentioned that there has been research done on incarcerated girls, which breeched their confidentiality rights.  She said she wouldn’t like to see that happen again and said it was an issue the Dept needed to look into.

President Stiglich said that with respect to the recommendations, this is the work the Commission should be doing; giving guidance to the Dept.

9.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission

Jessica Hazard commented that the ‘cultural’ shift needed in POs and the Dept is a big task.

10.

(DISCUSSION) Requests for future agenda items. 

J. Hazard asked for an update on the opening of juvenile hall.

Comm Beijen asked if the DMC grant needed to be put on.

Comm Fetico asked for someone from the Controller’s office to come speak about the audit.

President Stiglich said the approval of the CBO contracts be included.

11.

(ACTION)  Adjournment

Comm Queen asked that the meeting be adjourned in the memory of Sam Kinghorne’s brother George, and that the Commission sends its condolences to his family.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:58pm

In memory of George Kinghorne