The Tri-County Regional Community Corrections Board held a regular meeting in the Polk County Justice Center on Monday morning.
After the Call to Order, the meeting began with the approval of the monthly statistics review and a Statistical Reports Review of all departments for the month of May. The Board first heard from Executive Director Andrew Larson, who reported that many of the crimes committed over the last month had been DUIs, Drug Cases, and Failure of Appearance in Court. He noted that he had brought in Chief Probation Officer Jessica Hajicok to mention the Pre-Trial Supervision Program to help address this issue. He then reported to the Board about an expensive Juvenile Center placement for which they will have to bear the cost for. Larson explained that the prosecution and the defense had reached an agreement of a non-Polk County 19-year-old’s conviction sentence for a crime they had committed in Polk County before they turned 18, so they could not be tried as an adult, but they had not informed the Corrections Center about it until after the sentencing was issued. “In this particular instance, our organization was not notified prior to the sentencing. It was after the sentencing that the sentencing arrangement involved a fairly lengthy out-of-home placement, which could potentially cost Tri-County up to $130,000.” Executive Director Andrew Larson explained. “Obviously, that’s a huge bill, especially for someone who’s not a Polk, Norman, or Red Lake County resident. So I wanted the Board to be aware because we are very mindful with the budget, especially with everything else we’ve had going on this year with lots of revenue loss,” he added. He reported that the judge had 90 days to make a response to the sentence to make a decision, but the Center has 30 days to respond. Chief Probation Officer Jessica Hajicok mentioned that she did make a request to have the individual’s sentence reconsidered or have them resentenced. Currently, the matter is under advisement.
The Board then received an update on Personnel issues from Director Andrew Larson, who reported that Kelsey Delisle was now eligible to be a Probation Agent and started work on June 8. He also reported that Youth Counselor Kalab Thompson had retired from the Juvenile Center on May 11, as well as Transition Agent Heather Sabian, who retired on May 31, Probation Agent Scott Volker on June 2, and Corrections Officer Michelle Langton on June 8. The Board approved the motions unanimously. Larson also reported that they had received another resignation notice last Friday, June 10, and is opening advertising for a new Probation Officer and Corrections Officer at the Juvenile Center, hopefully before the next Board meeting.
The Board then discussed reopening the Northwest Regional Corrections Center’s (NWRCC) Beta Housing Unit. The Board heard from Jail Administrator Joey Pederson that they had reopened their Beta Housing Unit, which can hold up to 60 inmates, and had some of the updated COVID-19 protocols, saying that some of the restrictions have been scaled back. He reported that they moved about 20 inmates to the reopened Unit and are changing the way they are housing certain males who don’t do well in large, populated units to a new third Sigma C housing unit. He reported that the staff and some of the inmates have felt less stressed and more effective with this change for the past month, but they will continue to monitor them in the future. He then reported that in regard to COVID-19 protocols, thanks to new guidelines by the CDC, masks will continue to be provided, but only have a recommendation to wear them, rather than a mandate, but noted that if Community cases rise again, it will be mandatory to wear them again. They will continue to do screenings for the COVID for inmates and staff, and any positive cases will be on leave for 2-weeks. He also noted that if any inmates test positive for COVID, they will be tested again five days later, and if they test negative by then, they’ll be allowed to reintegrate with other inmates.
The Board then heard from Chief Probation Officer Jessica Hajicok on an update on the Probation Department. She first reported about the Pre-Trial Supervision Program, saying that the program began on May 16 and that it will be a system to monitor those who are awaiting trials with GPS tracking devices. This way, they can keep an eye on them without putting them in one of the jails, which can help reduce prison population, especially for those that commit lesser crimes in the local area. She explained that the hope was to help reduce the number of those who fail to appear in court as the County will know where they are and maybe reduce repeating offenders from committing new crimes. She then opened a discussion about the Transition Program, with her suggesting ways to try and improve and revamp it as they have one open position, and there has been a steady decline in the number of referrals and caseload sizes that the agents are maintaining over the past five years. “We have been meeting with Social Service agencies from Polk, Norman, and Red Lake County to discuss the potential future of the Transition Program,” Executive Director Larson explained. “Are there gaps in services that could potentially result in increasing referrals, or if the services are no longer needed in the volume that they were five to six years ago? Then we may just look at leaving it as just a one Transition worker program,” he added. Chief Probation Officer Hajicok reported that the program recently had a Transition worker resign, but they will leave the position open until they decide if they will continue the program with two agents or if they will alter the program in some ways.
The Board then began discussing a couple of contracts they had scheduled to begin in the next month. The first was with Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. for a Memorandum of Understanding on a new TCCC Salary Schedule Grid that will go into effect on the first of July 2022. The other was with the U.S. Department of Justice, on some additional funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, to give the Center an additional $38,000 with an effective date of June 10 to extend the Safety and Sanitary Officers positions in the facility for another three months. “We will extend our Safety and Sanitation Officer positions, which are also grant-funded positions which were due to end by June 30. We’re actually able to extend those now for an additional three months,” Executive Director Larson explained. “Those positions have been extremely helpful to the Jail as we’ve managed our COVID response because they bear primary responsibility for doing a lot of the testing of new arrivals to help us identify those who are potential symptomatic or positive for COVID very quickly so we can get them isolated and initiate any treatments that might be necessary,” he added. Larson explained that they would start using those funds by the beginning of July once their current funds that are due by the end of the month are used. He also noted that unless they get permission, they cannot use the funds to help pay for Overtime coverage. The Board approved the contracts unanimously.
The Board then heard from Jail Administrator Joey Pederson again on a project update for the Red River Valley Juvenile Center Construction Project (RRVJC), who explained that the timeline is on schedule and that the leaks in the roof have been repaired entirely. Sheetrocking and installation are ahead of schedule, and the contractors say they are about 75% completed with that.
The Board finished the meeting by approving the Invoices for May and bills for the County. The Board approved all Invoices unanimously.
The Board will meet again on Monday, July 11, at the Tri-County Corrections Center.
