2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of Minutes of August 28, 2006 meeting.

The minutes were approved as written.

(public comment)

There were none.

3.

(Public Comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Finance Committee of the Juvenile Probation Commission)

There were none.

4.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) A fuller discussion and plan for the Dept audit by the Controller’s office.

Comm Beijen welcomed Harriett Richardson from the Controller’s office, who reviewed her memo that outlined the process they will follow on an audit.  She mentioned that since the Commission’s request was made, their office has received several requests for audits of a more urgent nature, so she said that while she understands that the Commission wanted a more comprehensive performance audit, they would be able to perform the audit concentrating on contracting issues, with the other aspects to be looked at next year.

Comm Queen did confirm that the interest of the Commission is for a more complete audit that included the contracting process What would be looked at in a performance audit?  She said, they would review how things are being done (the process) to ascertain their efficiency, and recommend changes according to best practices.

The Chief noted that there was a 500 hr work limit, and said if there were any ways to “blend” other items into this audit that could be done within that limit, the Dept would welcome that.  H. Richardson said that if the Commission would accept a less detailed report (not listing all process/descriptive details), this might save time—as writing an in-depth report takes time.

(public comment)

Bruce Rice, Huckleberry asked what impact an audit would have on the contracting process if they (the Dept) are now going to use the CMS database with DCYF.  H. Richardson said that it would not be useful to audit a process that was not going to be used again.

5.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Review of the Dept’s fiscal operations, with recap of expenditures, budget including status of contracts, trends in expenses, audits of all financial processes.

Mark Lui reviewed the financial statement given to the Committee, the first for this fiscal year.  He noted some differences in the permanent salaries, due to the number of pay periods in each month.  Further OT in juvenile hall is a little over budget for this period, due to training, and high population.

OT for probation division is due to evening and weekend work by probation officers, beginning in August.

OT also came from using POs for court officers.

There were empty lines in the report, Lui said these were work ordered services that do not get billed monthly, but quarterly.

Update on contracts:  39 contracts to be completed.  13 are done.  30 are at the City Attorney’s office.

6 others are still being negotiated –work plans.

Asked if there will be problems with the contracts at the City Attorney’s,  the Chief said no. They just happened to reach that office when the attorney went on vacation.

Asked about the vehicle logs, M. Lui said he wasn’t sure about that.  He’ll check on it.

(public comment) 

There were none..

6.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION). Discuss a supplemental budget request for the Bd of Supervisors for additional support of CBO contracts.

Comm Beijen said that they possibly missed the opportunity when first presented with the funding areas, to suggest changes in the proportion of funding areas, and that now it may be inappropriate to suggest such changes, specifically referencing CBOs to be affected.  Perhaps it would be better to have the Chief make a supplemental budget request for an area of service rather than for specific CBOs.

Comm Queen said his recollection was that in the last discussion it was felt that there was not enough resources being made available to the services needed so that the Chief could possibly work with the President of the Commission to put together a request for more funds to support the work of the CBOs with our youth, and present that to the Bd of Supervisors and Mayor.

The Chief wasn’t clear about that instruction.  He said that they (the Dept) had completed their process in the areas they felt needed attention and services. He said he wasn’t aware of any shortfalls. In reference to funding these areas, they are concentrating on getting the contracts completed and services are implemented. As to the pie chart showing the allocation of funds, he asked the Commission which areas they felt were inadequately covered.

Comm Beijen said he thought this was to request funds from the City to support/match the funds the Dept was seeking from the State. He again said it might be better now to tell the Chief what area they felt needed bolstering so that he could come up with a request for that.

Comm Queen recounted that the spirit of the discussion was not that there should be a re allocation of amounts to CBOs, but to advocate for more resources to support more services, in light of the fact that the Bd of Supervisors was going to have a meeting about add-backs.  Having the Commission in line with the CBOs for needing more funds would be a powerful statement.

Comm Beijen asked what the process would be if the Dept asked for more funds.  Lui gave a general description of how a fiscal item would get carried through the Board process.  He deferred to Alison Magee said that if it went to the Mayor it would be reviewed by the Budget analyst before being introduced as a supplemental request to the Board. If you went to the Board, then a member would carry it forth.   Usually a supplemental budget request is not made unless there is a clear need that was unanticipated.  For this request, it may be more appropriate to wait for the new budget cycle to make it.

Comm Queen stated that both the Mayor and Bd of Supervisors should come up with more resources to deal with violence and murder, and the Commission should be advocating them to do this.  At the last Commission meeting it was agreed that the President would reach out to the Mayor and Bd about this issue.

The Chief said that he hasn’t yet discussed this topic with President Stiglich, and did not know what she has done in this regard.

Comm Queen asked to have this put on the full commission agenda for a fuller discussion.

Comm Beijen thought it might be better to use this time to conceive of a request to be included in the next budget process.

Comm Queen said that there is a reason that the Board is revisiting this budget, because of the status of our communities, and that this is an opportunity to present our perspective on it.

(public comment)

Jessica Hazard Taqwi said that the request being seen by the Board tomorrow is the Mayor’s 2.6 mil request, most of which is already earmarked for OT.  She said that at issue is not the “lack of money” for juvenile justice, but the absence of money for prevention.  Many CBOs have lost 3 million that used to be available.   If there is money returned, the priority is for case management. The City has said it supports things like the CRN (critical response network) but that is based on case management –which isn’t supported with funds.  Case management has been acknowledged as part of best practices.

7.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Discussion of the upcoming budget process and setting up timelines for preparation.

Comm Beijen said this is something we should get underway now, planning on priorities and problem areas.  Comm Queen reviewed that at a Commission retreat there was a discussion about this and how it should involve a wide audience: unions, CBOs, community clients, city  government and the Department.   He pointed out that the recent Dept budget discussions revolved around whether to ask for the funds up front vs. hoping to get them added back. He felt it always better to go with the budget that is needed rather than scaled back.

Comm Beijen said that it was a sad reality that inadequate funds are given. The Commission’s responsibility is to make sure they know probation kids are important.  

The Chief said that he was committed to getting the Dept’s division managers involved in the preparation of the budget.

(public comment)

Jessica Hazard Taqwi commented that it really isn’t too long a time before the budget is due, so getting it started now is not unreasonable.  The providers would like to work with the Dept on putting together a “Cadillac model” for services.  The Chief welcomed the providers’ input and review of the Dept’s budget when complete.

Comm Beijen said he wanted to get clarification from the City Attorney regarding any issues of conflict that might occur from communications between the committee chairs.

Jessica Hazard Taqwi said she wanted clarification regarding conflict of interest issues around commissioners and their associated organizations that may have contracts.

8.

(ACTION) Request for future agenda items,  Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:06pm.