Okaloosa County BOCC — April 19, 2016 — Proposed Settlement of litigation with the Department of Juvenile Justice — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: April 19, 2016 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Roland Sims Jr. SUBJECT: Proposed Settlement of litigation with the Department of Juvenile Justice DEPARTMENT: County Administrator BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Okaloosa County and many other counties have been engaged in extensive litigation with the Department of Juvenile Justice over the extent of costs being allocated to them for their share of secure juvenile detention. During the most recent legislative session, there was an effort to resolve the litigation through the adoption of SB 1322. That bill would establish that the cost of shared juvenile detention and would prospectively divided those costs with 50% being funded by the State and 50% being funded by the counties. During the legislative process, Okaloosa County was requested to support this effort and the Board indicated that it was its intent to dismiss all litigation should the legislation be adopted. CS for SB 1322 was adopted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor on March 29th. BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: Okaloosa County and other counties have been engaged in extensive litigation with the Department of Juvenile Justice over the extent of costs being allocated to them for their share of secure juvenile detention. The litigation began when DJJ improperly shifted costs to the counties to the extent that they were required to pay 72% of the costs and the State was only funding 28%. As a result of litigation, the Rule that the Department was operating under was invalidated and it was determined by the Court that counties should only be funding 32% of the costs and that the State should be funding 68%. During the 2015 legislative session, the Legislature adopted a budget that altered that ratio and provided that the State would only fund 43% while the counties would bear 57% of the cost. This prompted more litigation. During the most recent legislative session, there was an effort to resolve all litigation through the adoption of SB 1322. That bill would establish that the cost of shared juvenile detention would be divided with 50% being funded by the State and 50% being funded by the counties. To facilitate the efforts to adopt this legislation, the counties were asked to agree to dismiss their litigation if this provision was adopted. Okaloosa County agreed that it would dismiss all litigation if the legislation was adopted. CS for SB 1322 was adopted and signed by the Governor on March 29th. Attached is a copy of CS for SB 1322 and the letter submitted to Senator Latvala by Chairman Windes concerning the legislation. OPTIONS: Approve/Disapprove. RECOMMENDATION: Direct the County Attorney to dismiss all litigation between Okaloosa County and the Department of Juvenile Justice with prejudice and authorize the Chairman to execute the waiver and release as required by the statute. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator