Shared Employees Committee
December 10, 2004 Minutes
Page - 5
DRAFT
Ad Hoc County/Courts
Shared Employee Committee
MEETING MINUTES
December 10, 2004
The purpose of the committee is to address the management, liability and appointment of juvenile detention officers, juvenile probation officers and other shared employees and to develop model agreements and consider any legislation that would provide structure and guide conduct regarding the management, liability and appointment of shared employees.
I. Welcome and Introductions
Committee Co-Chairs Patti Tobias, Administrative Director of the Courts and Dan Chadwick, Executive Director, Idaho Association of Counties welcomed the participants to the meeting: Ted Argyle, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney; Brian Benjamin, Deputy Attorney General; Dan Kessler, Third District Trial Court Administrator; Bill Lasley, Department of Juvenile Corrections; Vicki Meadows, Power County Commissioner; Lorin Nielsen, Bannock County Sheriff; Ethel Peck, Custer County Clerk of the District Court; Ron Smith, Boundary County Commissioner; Hon. Darla Williamson, Fourth District Administrative District Judge; Hon. John Varin, Camas County Magistrate Judge; Hon. Keith Walker, Fremont County Magistrate Judge; Ben Wolfinger, Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff, and Sharon Burke, Project Manager.
Sr. Judge Daniel Hurlbutt, Project Director for the Court Security Job Task Analysis and Jerry Hawley, Occupational Analyst, joined the group to discuss the results of the Court Security Job Task Analysis.
II. Approval of August Minutes
Dan Kessler moved to approve the minutes from the August Meeting and Ben Wolfinger seconded the motion. The members voted to approve the minutes by unanimous consent.
III. Updates and New Business
Materials on IAC Website
Sharon Burke demonstrated the link to work products of the Committee now included on the IAC Website. The committee made a few suggestions:
· Include the work under IAC Committees and not Other;
· Add a link to the IAC website from the Supreme Court website;
· Update all work products once they are finalized.
Action Item
IAC will relocate the Committee work products on their website. Sharon Burke will transmit final materials to IAC and request that a link be added from the Supreme Court website.
New Commissioner / New Judge Training
The New Judge training conducted by the court includes a session on Working Relations and introduces briefly the work of the Committee. Dan Chadwick agreed that training of New Commissioners and Clerks should be included in the February Conference Agenda, either through the general group or the Justice and Public Safety Committee. In addition, the group agreed additional training on management issues such as interviewing, hiring and firing needs to be developed.
Action Item
Include an update on the Committee Work Products and website at the February Conference. Develop additional training on management issues such as interviewing, hiring and firing for both judges and elected officials.
Status of FTP Request
In the August Meeting, the Committee recommended that a proposal to add FTP positions for Drug Court Coordinators and Family Court Services Coordinators be forwarded to the Administrative Conference for consideration. The Administrative Conference voted in their October Meeting to take no action in the current session and reconsider the following year when there is a better sense of the number of positions required.
Action Item
Patti Tobias to include consideration of FTPs on the 2005 October Administrative Conference Agenda.
IV. Court Security Job Task Analysis
Budget Update
Dan Chadwick reviewed the budget for the Court Security Job Task Analysis. To date, IAC has received $17,325 from counties. Two counties have not sent in their portion but have agreed to do so. In addition, Dan reported that expenses are in line with projections.
Overview of the Process and Preliminary Results
Jerry Hawley, Occupational Analyst, reviewed the results of the Job Task Analysis. In early November, an expert panel of court security officers and bailiffs were convened to identify the job functions for their positions statewide. The group unanimously agreed on a list of 31 job functions for bailiffs and 28 job functions for court security officers. The results will be validated by a statewide survey to be distributed to judges, Trial Court Administrators, Sheriffs, Bailiffs and Court Security Officers. Once validated, the final report can be converted to a training curriculum as well as utilized by counties to establish minimum standards for employment and to develop a job description. Jerry Hawley recommended Bill Larson, Department of Correction, to assist with this process.
Recommendations from Sr Judge Hurlbutt
Sr. Judge Hurlbutt distributed a report outlining and addressing the initial issues identified by the committee in the August Meeting, The report concludes that training with a certification process for bailiffs and court security officers is the most pressing need and will address the liability issues and concerns related to the management structure of the positions. In addition, Judge Hurlbutt recommended training for judges on overseeing security in their court.
Ben Wolfinger served as a member of the expert panel and agreed with the recommendation. Ben reported that the process was very complete and did an excellent job of getting input from each expert panel member to develop the list of job functions.
The Committee made the following observations:
· Local training would also be necessary;
· Job descriptions for the positions should be consistent across the state;
· A CD format utilized by POST in other areas would also benefit court security training as a supplement to the live training courses;
· An increase in the POST fee was suggested as a funding source; Doug Graves mentioned that a statutory increase is currently in the works and it may be difficult to obtain additional funding in this manner.
· The cost for the Juvenile Academies is approximately $18,000; Due to overlap with current training provided by POST, the court security training will likely be less.
Motion Approved
Ron Smith made a motion to develop a plan to establish a statewide certification and training plan for both court security officers and bailiffs as well as a standardized job description with minimum standards for employment. The training could be financed by an increase in the POST fee or alternative funding structure. Judge Varin seconded and the committee voted to approve the motion.
The Committee discussed the issue of management structure. With the information provided by the Job Task Analysis and the resulting recommendations for a statewide certified training program, the members agree that court and county officials can develop a management structure for court security that meets local needs if two issues are addressed: 1) the method for determining the management structure is defined statutorily and 2) liability for the positions is assumed by the entity and clarified statutorily. Sr. Judge Hurlbutt agreed to review the existing statutes and propose amendments to address these issues, eliminate unnecessary provisions, develop consistency in terminology and clarify the alternatives for the management of court security officers and bailiffs.
Action Item
Sr. Judge Hurlbutt agreed to review the existing statutes and propose amendments to address method for determining management structure and clarification of liability, eliminate unnecessary provisions and develop consistency in terminology for court security officers and bailiffs.
Action Item
Jerry Hawley and Sr. Judge Hurlbutt will finalize their reports after the validation process is completed and distribute the final reports to the Committee.
V. Job Task Analysis – Adult Misdemeanor Probation
The committee discussed the current management structure in the state for Adult Misdemeanor Probation. A range of models exist and, though some counties do not have the positions, they serve a critical role for the courts and counties. A survey was conducted to determine the number of positions and management structure around the state. Currently, many counties employ Misdemeanor Probation Officers with little statutory authority or employment standards.
Motion Approved
A motion was approved with unanimous consent to request that Jerry Hawley conduct a Job Task Analysis for Misdemeanor Probation Officers.
Action Item
Dan Chadwick and Patti Tobias will include the issue on the February Meeting Agendas to determine if counties would be willing to contribute funding to the project. If so, the project would be conducted in late Spring or early Summer.
The following names were suggested for the Expert Panel:
Jody Fuller – Blaine County
Barbara Boyer – Canyon County
Brian Brown – Tri-counties Probation
Val Gardner – Idaho Falls
Justin Steele – Caribou County
Amy Henson – Kootenai County
Nancy Cladis – Ada County
Aleta Straub – Custer County
Max Sprague – Power County
VI. Indemnification Provision for Courts Supervising County Employees
In the last meeting, the Committee requested that Brian Benjamin draft a statute to codify the Blankenship case, delineating liability for a court-supervised, county-paid employee. Patti Tobias reported that the Administrative Conference and the Court were in favor of a proposed statute and voted to forward a statute, upon approval by the Committee, to the legislature in the upcoming session.
Brian reviewed the draft language for this statute. The committee discussed the proposal and the language used to determine the scope of the provision. Issues identified were:
· Define administrative functions and supervisory control;
· Consider language to allow acts done in compliance with policy;
· Include indemnification of the political subdivision as well as the employee.
A subcommittee was assigned to further discuss the issues and make a recommendation to the court as to whether this proposal should be considered in this legislative session. The subcommittee includes: Brian Benjamin, Ted Argyle, Dave Sasser, Michael Henderson and Dan Chadwick.
Action Item
A subcommittee was assigned to further discuss the issues and make a recommendation to the court by mid- January as to whether this proposal should be considered in this legislative session. The subcommittee includes: Brian Benjamin, Ted Argyle, Dave Sasser, Michael Henderson and Dan Chadwick.
Guidelines for Drug Court Coordinators
The Committee reviewed the final model agreement for county-supervised Drug Court Coordinators. The model had been revised from the August Meeting in the following areas:
· The job description and qualifications for the Coordinator would be in line with the Guidelines developed by the statewide Drug Court Coordinating Committee;
· Interviews for the Drug Court Coordinator shall be attended by the Administrative District Judge or judge designee;
· The Coordinator shall not be hired without the consent of the Administrative District Judge;
· Qualifications for Contract Service Providers are determined by the Guidelines developed by the statewide Drug Court Coordinating Committee.
Patti Tobias suggested the title be amended to illustrate that this is one model for management and not necessarily the committee’s recommendation for a preferred model.
Action Item
Sharon Burke will revise the title of the Drug Court Coordinator Model Agreement to illustrate that this is one model for management and not necessarily the committee’s recommendation for a preferred model.
Motion Approved
The Committee approved the model per unanimous consent.
Regional Drug Court Model: Sharon distributed an administrative order and flow chart of the Seventh District, district-wide drug court plan. The district uses a board structure to allow input from courts and county commissioners to oversee the entire district drug court. Sharon Burke discussed that this might be a helpful model for other districts that don’t have a district-wide policy in place.
Motion Approved
The Committee agreed to include the order and flow chart on the website for reference and information for other districts.
VII. Next Meetings Set
The next meeting is planned for September 9, 2005 in a site to be determined. The meeting will include:
· Court Security: Status of Training Development and Statutory Amendments;
· Misdemeanor Probation: Review the results of the Job Task Analysis and discuss statewide training and statutory amendments;
· Review IAC Website for final products; and
· Discuss future plans for the committee.
ACTION ITEMS AND MOTIONS
- IAC will relocate the Committee work products on their website. Sharon Burke will transmit final materials to IAC and request that a link be added from the Supreme Court website.
- Both IAC and the courts will include an update on the Committee Work Products and website at the February Conference. Develop additional training on management issues such as interviewing, hiring and firing for both judges and elected officials.
- Patti Tobias to include consideration of FTPs on the 2005 October Administrative Conference Agenda.
4. Ron Smith made a motion to develop a plan to establish a statewide certification and training plan for both court security officers and bailiffs as well as a standardized job description with minimum standards for employment. The training could be financed by an increase in the POST fee or alternative funding structure. Judge Varin seconded and the committee voted to approve the motion.
- Sr. Judge Hurlbutt agreed to review the existing statutes and propose amendments to address method for determining management structure and clarification of liability, eliminate unnecessary provisions and develop consistency in terminology for court security officers and bailiffs.
- Jerry Hawley and Sr. Judge Hurlbutt will finalize their reports after the validation process is completed and distribute the final reports to the Committee.
- A motion was approved with unanimous consent to request that Jerry Hawley conduct a Job Task Analysis for Misdemeanor Probation Officers.
- Dan Chadwick and Patti Tobias will include the issue on the February Meeting Agendas to determine if counties would be willing to contribute funding to the project. If so, the project would be conducted in late Spring or early Summer.
9. A subcommittee was assigned to further discuss the issues and make a recommendation to the court by mid-January as to whether this proposal should be considered in this legislative session. The subcommittee includes: Brian Benjamin, Ted Argyle, Dave Sasser, Michael Henderson and Dan Chadwick.
- Sharon Burke will revise the title of the Drug Court Coordinator Model Agreement to illustrate that this is one model for management and not necessarily the committee’s recommendation for a preferred model.
11. The Committee approved the Drug Court Coordinator Model per unanimous consent.
12. The Committee agreed to include the Seventh District Drug Court Order and flow chart on the website for reference and information for other districts.