Okaloosa County BOCC — June 17, 2014 — Minutes — reading text

$170,854.54 to the contract. Mr. Amunds made motion, seconded by Mr. Boyles, to approve Change Order No. 1 to this Lord & Son contract. 5 yeas. CORRECTIONS - APPROVAL OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH 1°7 SPECIAL OPERATION WING TO HOUSE MILITARY PERSONNEL Chief Corrections Officer Paul Lawson requested approval of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the 1°* Special Operations Wing (1 SOW) to house military persons with law violations at the County Jail. Upon inquiry by Mr. Harris, Chief Lawson stated he does not anticipate a large number of individuals. Upon inquiry by Mr. Amunds, Chief Lawson answered rudimentary health care will be provided at the jail but if a military members needs more advanced care, 1 SOW will be asked to remove that individual from the Jail. Mr. Harris made motion, seconded by Mr. Parisot, to approve this MOA. 5 yeas. May 20, 2014 -14- Minute Book 71, Page 67 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners ee SS nore ene NAT eee CORRECTIONS - UPDATE, ESCAMBIA COUNTY INMATES Chief Lawson stated following the explosion at the Escambia County Jail on April 30, he met with several of his senior staff members and asked if it would be possible to assist Escambia County by providing temporary housing of inmates. Staff stated it would be a challenge but they would try. He said they provided housing for 40 women inmates. Chief Lawson reported that as of 4:45 p.m. today the last of those inmates has been returned to Escambia County. Chief Lawson stated he is profoundly grateful and proud of his staff and officers. Mr. Windes expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Corrections staff and to Chief Lawson for his leadership. PUBLIC COMMENTS No one came forward to address the Board. COUNTY ATTORNEY - STATUS OF LITIGATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE Mr. Stewart stated at the last meeting the Board requested an update on the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) litigation. He began with an explanation of the background about the process, listing the following major points: e Prior to 2004, the State of Florida paid 100% of the cost of secured detention of juveniles ® 2004 Legislation passed which shared costs with counties ® That 2004 Legislation wag struck down as an unconstitutional unfunded mandate ® In 2005 the Florida Association of Counties worked with the State to arrive at an equitable sharing approach * In the agreed upon approach, the counties would only pay actual costs for pre-disposition days (prior to final court action) e In the 2008 timeframe, the DJJ began to look at shifting more of the costs of secured detention back to counties because the Legislature failed to provide sufficient funding Mr. Stewart then displayed an email from Beth Davis, Director of Program Accountability, to Attorney Brian Berkowitz dated April 10, 2009, with a subject line of “Got a crazy idea...” The May 20, 2014 -15- Minute Book 71, Page 68 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners cee proposal outlined in the email was to revise the rule by taking out the reference to pre-disposition and post-disposition and instead use the terms pre-commitment and post-commitment. The following definition was also suggested: ‘Committed to the department” means court ordered to the custody of the department, to include juveniles on conditional release. Any previous mention of “final court disposition” was to be replaced with “committed to the department.” DJJ began implementing these changes in Fiscal Year 2008-09 and it resulted in many challenges being filed. Okaloosa County has challenged the amount for FY 2008-09, FY 2009-10, FY 2010-11, and FY 2011-12. The rule was also challenged and was subsequently vacated. Continuing, Mr. Stewart said that based on the litigation it was determined the counties were paying approximately 70% of the costs of the secure juvenile detention and the State was paying 30%. The actual amount paid by the counties should have been 32% and the State 68%. A chart was displayed breaking down the overpayments to DJJ by Okaloosa County from FY 2009-10 through FY 2012-13. The total overpayment for those years is §3,097,864.42. Mr. Stewart pointed out that DJJ assessed additional amounts in FY 2009-10 and FY 2010-11 but Okaloosa County did not pay the additional assessments. Mr. Stewart stated during the same time counties were being overcharged, DJJ turned money back to the State in the following amounts: FY 2009-10~---------~ $13,349,648 FY 2010-11--------- 22,634,870 PY 2011-12--------- 14,990,967 PY 2012-13--------- 27,182,119 The following actions are pending: 1. Stipulations of facts have been entered in for FY 2009-10, FY 2010-11, and FY 2011-12; waiting for DJJ to enter Final Order and Stipulation of Overpayment 2. DJJ has started the rule making process to change the rule to conform to the Governor's budget (Special Counsel with Nabors, Giblin & Nickerson has entered comments on behalf of Okaloosa County. It is anticipated the new calculations will allocate 57% of the costs to the counties.) 3. Waiting for DJJ to take final action for FY 2012-13 Mr. Stewart emphasized that Nabors, Giblin & Nickerson are being very aggressive on behalf of Okaloosa County and the other counties the firm represents. May 20, 2014 -16- Minute Book 71, Page 69 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners SR aa capa arava a pans SS cama age pemeces Mr. Parisot asked for the slide showing the money reverted back to the State by DJJ to be shown again. Mr. Stewart said the money was substantial and those funds could have been shifted but it was not done. Mr. Padgett referred to the email from Beth Davis to Brian Berkowitz outlining the plan to revise the rule and said during his thirty years in government he has never seen anything like this. He said what began as a “crazy idea” became a reality. Mr. Padgett expressed his dismay at how a State agency could skew things and the fact that counties have received zero help from the Legislature this year. Mr. Harris thanked Mr. Stewart for the presentation and said it is sad that almost $100 Million was sent back to the State hy DJJ. He said the $3 Million the county was overcharged by DJJ added to the $38 Million in unfunded mandates is “criminal.” Upon inquiry by Mr. Parisot, Mr. Stewart stated the next rule making session will be June 6. Mr. Padgett advised that he will be at that session, as well as Special Counsel and a representative from the Florida Association of Counties (FAC). Mr. Harris asked if FAC has been supportive of the counties or are they sitting on the fence. Mr. Stewart replied that he believes for a period of time FAC was not as aggressive as they wanted them to be but he thinks their hearts are in the right place. He pointed out FAC represents 67 counties and must play to all the membership. Mr. Stewart said FAC is still a good partner but we must put Okaloosa County first. Mr. Boyles said FAC took a compromise approach but the State took an all or nothing approach. He stated the Legislature wants to make sure the counties are accountable but we must make sure the Legislature is accountable. Mr. Boyles said he wants our attorneys to be aggressive in the rule making session. He also wants to compel the Legislature to deal with this issue. Mr. Stewart advised we have a two-prong approach. One deals with the overpayment which will take some time to play out. The second, which is equally as important, is the rule making process which governs how we go forward. He stated we want to make sure we get the money back and that we do not get hurt going forward. May 20, 2014 -17- Minute Book 71, Page 70 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners ee Upon inquiry by Mr. Amunds, Mr. Stewart stated we did win the case but haven’t gotten the final judgment from the judge. He said in FY 2009-10 and FY 2010-11, DJJ assessed an additional $1,061,186.66 and $412,889.90, respectively. The county refused to pay those additional assessments but the money was placed in escrow. Mr. Padgett stated the DJJ does not have the authority to withhold State Revenue Sharing monies from the counties. He said if the county pays what it owes, it will take an action by the Legislature next year to withhold those monies from the county. Mr. Stewart concurred, saying a State agency cannot Claw back money without authorization. He said after the June 6 rule making session he will update the Board. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:25 a.m. DON W. HOWARD CHARLES K. WINDES, JR., CHAIRMAN CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (These minutes were transcribed by Teresa Ward.) May 20, 2014 -18- Minute Book 71, Page 71 Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners