Meeting Information

2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of  February 13, 2003  meeting minutes 

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.

Vicky Riga (spelling?), with NFTE at LCR, commented that while there were no “miracles” there –at LCR--- (meaning not everything moved straight lined from failure to total success), to cut off LCR from the youth there would be a great loss.  She encouraged them to find a way to keep it open.

Jim Fithian, Asst Principal at LCR, commented that anyone making any comments about LCR who hasn’t been there in 6 mos, is not speaking about the current situation there.  He asked the Commission to communicate to the Mayor’s office that it just shouldn’t be in the City’s priorities to close LCR. LCR is a “good citizen factory,” that produces very positive young men who are now productive members of society.  He quoted from a United Nations report on sustainable development, giving the definition as “meeting the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”   And repeated that the City cannot afford to cut LCR.

4

(ACTION) Continued review and possible action to recommend contingency reductions to FY 03-04  Operating Budget, to full Commission.  

The Chief referred to the 2 page handout as the culmination of a 2 day meeting of the Executive Team.  (document available through the CPO’s office).  He gave the presentation to Mark Lui who capitulated the items line by line, some highlights:

#3 of revenue lines was the proposed sale or lease of LCR property in the amount of $400K.  The Dept is looking for a real estate consultant to work with them on this.

Comm. Bonilla asked if it wouldn’t be more concrete to project between $800K  and $2 mil in income from the “rental” of bed space at LCR than trying to sell property in this economic cycle? There is a clear need for such space, and he said his recollection from the last meeting was that the Chief said they could generate anywhere from $800K to $2 mil from renting be space.

The Chief corrected Comm. Bonilla, saying it would probably cost the Dept from $850K to $1.2 mil to place the kids who would otherwise go to LCR. 

In answer to whether bed space rental was more concrete than sale of the property, the Chief said no.

Comm. Ricci asked how many acres would be sold for this amount?  The Chief had no answer.

Comm. Ricci asked what the estimated revenue might be from renting bed space. The Chief said it depended upon many factors, which he did not have on hand, but said he could get those for the Commissioners after the meeting.

#4 is a proposed administrative fee assessed to contracts.  Comm. Ricci asked for an explanation of this. M. Lui said that there are services the Dept provides in oversight and monitoring of contracts (eg. the Youth Development & Crime Prevention grant) where they do not get any administrative costs covered.  The Chief said this fee does not apply to the CBO contracts. It is for contracts of other revenue sources that the Dept. administers.

Comm. Ricci asked what the total contract amount was for #12.  Ans: $161K

M.Lui said that for #16 they would be looking for remaining staff to take some of the work of those positions that would be cut.

The Chief said that essentially, with vacancies, and personnel cuts in this proposal, the Dept will sustain staff cuts of about 27%.

Liz Jackson-Simpson said that the City is required by ordinance to maintain a basal level of funding of children’s programs.  She also mentioned that many contracts are of a level ($65K) where there isn’t much “wiggle” room so cuts would be very difficult. 

Comm. Ricci asked for an explanation of Prop D. L. Jackson-Simpson explained the need for a 4% basal level of spending on children’s programs.

M. Lui referred to the cut of the cashier position #17. 

Comm. Ricci asked about the scheduling software, to which M. Lui explained it was software which helps schedule the staff time in the new juvenile hall.

(public comments)

Henry Breen asked about line item #3 on the Dept’s document-- $400K for sale/lease of LCR.  He wanted to know clearly what it meant.  Comm. Hale advised Comm Ricci that they could not respond to Mr. Breen’s question and request.  He repeated that the document is ambiguous and confusing.  He said that if there was no way to have dialog with the Commission on what is on the agenda, then the whole meeting is meaningless.

He furthered said he feels the Dept’s document is worthless, and that the public is being misled and if the Commission is going to help the public, then it is their responsibility to explain.  He referred to the terms sale and lease and said that they are vastly different, and if the Commission wants the public to understand and support them, then they need to explain it all clearly.

Comm. Hale said that the document is clear.

He said that the questions Mr. Breen was raising will be answered through the process.

He asked the Chief to explain #3.  The Chief said that it is a proposed increase in revenue. He said this was a conservative estimate.  He said that all the revenue amounts were estimated.

Dorothy Ellis, PO, spoke in opposition to closing LCR. 

Comm. Ricci, again said that since this was not on the agenda, there could be no response at the time.  She said that it could be placed on a future agenda to be discussed.

Comm. Hale said that the Commission was restricted to what it could discuss at the meeting.

D. Ellis said that the staff cuts being proposed will produce public safety issues.

Roger Gainey, PO, said that there needs to be more accurate figures being offered in a proposed budget.  (eg. the $400K is really not reconcilable with what is possible at LCR). 

Comm. Hale responded to his comments.

R. Gainey repeated that the proposal needs to be more serious (with more concrete figures), because jobs and lives are at stake.

The meeting was recessed for 10 mins.

Henrietta Lee said that the proposal to cut positions and form a clerical pool was illusory as they are already doing a clerical pool now.  There’s already shortages in this pool. And to propose cutting laundry workers is a meet and discuss issue with the union.

Bruce Fisher, Huckleberry Youth Programs responded to the question of the impact of a 15% budget cut, on their services.  He mentioned a series of cuts they are already facing and how this would additionally reduce their ability to provide services. This is a crises situation across the board.  He said that the work of the CBOs should be seen as work done by the City itself, since CBOs provide many of the services for the City.

Comm. Ricci asked the Dept to clarify #3 with specifics. 

Comm Hale said that until there is a land survey they will not be able to get more concrete figures.

Comm. Bonilla asked for the Dept to come up with an alternative to #3 (other revenue generating schemes, eg. renting beds). 

Comm. Ricci referred to #12, and asked for additional reductions from it.  The Chief said they have been discussing turning this contract into a civil service position. He said that Local 21 is supporting them on this idea.

Comm. Ricci said that the Finance Comm. would like to further review the CBO contracts and possibly make their own recommendations on this (#13).  Comm Bonilla said that possibly considering a 15% cut.

Toward this, he asked that all contractors give the Committee a written statement on the impact of such a cut on their services.

The Chief restated his understanding of what the Committee wanted on this item: the Dept will provide a 15% dollar amount cut on item #13, and have the CBOs respond in writing on the impact on their programs.

Comm Ricci said that for items #15-25, the Committee would like to make their own recommendations and review this further to make adjustments.

The Chief clarified that as a result of the discussion at this meeting, the Committee would communicate to him what changes it would like to see, before Thursday (March 6).  Comm. Ricci said yes.

Comm. Ricci stated that they would continue review of items #15-25 because they wanted to try an avoid the staff reductions of line people, and to look at the revenue potential of the ranch, to keep services there.

The Chief repeated the requests of the Committee:  that the Dept provide other options to #3, speculative or concrete (eg. bed rentals) that could generate the $400K from LCR.  He asked about #12.  Comm. Ricci said that they would like to see if more could be saved on this item.

The Chief said that he would provide the figures for why they think this is all they can save.

Comm Bonilla said that he could possibly present their alternatives to the Dept in terms of what to cut. This will be “consultancy” because of Sunshine, so no motion will be made toward those possible recommendations.

Comm. Hale stated his understanding, that they are not necessarily offering an alternative, because if that’s the case, those alternatives need to be noticed, and people need to have the chance to look at that. What they are doing is going through a process to develop a contingency plan as a recommendation and in that conversation they are bringing their information and suggesting modifications.  Comm. Bonilla said, possibly.

The Chief asked if the Committee wanted the revised document with the information, on Thursday or before, and if so, when.

Comm. Bonilla said, close of business on Wed. the 5.

The Chief again repeated the items to be dealt with.

On items #15-25, he understood the Committee would communicate to them what the Committee wanted included in the document, by close of business Wed.

Comm. Bonilla said the only reason they are putting it on the calendar is so they can discuss it legally if it comes up.  They may not present it, but just so it is legal in case they do want to present them.

The Dept doesn’t have to do anything with these items until the Committee discusses on Thursday what direction it wants to give the Dept.

Comm. Ricci commented that they would communicate to the Chief any other position cuts which the Committee might feel is appropriate. The Chief stated “as part of the discussion at the Thursday meeting.”  Comm. Ricci answered, “correct.”

Public Comments:

Raul Hernandez, spoke in regards to #7,8,9, he said that these cuts were made on a voluntary basis by IT.  He emphasized that with the reductions, the ability to provide support to the Dept in maintaining the computers would be compromised.

Comm. Bonilla commended the staff and administration for doing their work.  He said that everyone has to do their job, and the Committee was just trying to do theirs.  He thanked the Dept for continuing the good work.

5

(ACTION) Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm.