Corrections board finds a quorum
Several members join meeting by phone
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Members of the Community Corrections Board scrambled to assemble a quorum of eight members and appoint an acting chairman in the absence of Chairman Wes Jones and Vice Chairwoman Susan Moran. The board met during the lunch hour Tuesday in the Lyon County Courthouse.
The problems were solved using the telephone to connect with two of the members, and appointing Judge Lee Fowler to act as chairman for the meeting.
Robert Sullivan, director of Community Corrections for the Fifth Judicial District, said that action was needed on two agenda items before a state deadline on Friday; the remaining items need discussion and will be included on the January meeting agenda.
The board unanimously approved spending almost $9,000 in unexpended intervention funds to help pay for interpreters for Emporia High School and Emporia Middle School counselors who work with the truancy prevention program and for office furniture and two computers for Community Corrections.
If the spending had not been approved, the excess funds would have been returned to the Kansas general fund.
The board also was asked to accept a late application for funding from the Olpe schools’ MORE program. CCB member Vickie Vaughn, connected to the meeting by a speaker phone, told the board that the teacher in charge of the application had misunderstood the deadline and had submitted the request two days late.
MORE, an after-school mentoring program, has asked for $3,150 from the 2009 allocations.
Financing will be done in three-year increments beginning this year.
“So if we lock them out now?” member Jeff Cope asked.
“You’ve locked them out for the next three years,” Sullivan responded.
The board voted unanimously to allow the late application.
Other requests for 2009 were received from Big Brothers Big Sisters, $31,012; Family Solutions, $40,521; and Chase County Mentors, $15,831.
The 2008 allocations for the latter three agencies were: BBBS, $30,062; Family Solutions, $40,521; and Chase County Mentors, $15,831.
Sullivan notified the board that Community Corrections will need to adjust its budget to pay a portion of the cost of a new server for the local courthouse. The share will be approximately $11,000 of an anticipated $56,000 cost. Sullivan estimated that about 42 percent of the share will come from the Department of Corrections fund, 43 percent from the Juvenile Justice Authority, and 15 percent from the county fund. The adjustment will be discussed at a later meeting.
Sullivan announced that $410 has come into the Community Corrections budget from supervisory fees added to court costs on Jan. 4, 2007. He will check with District Court Clerk Jeanne Turner to determine how and when the fees are collected.
The board discussed the possibility of hiring an outside consultant, John Wright of Cincinnati, to update the Juvenile Strategic Comprehensive Plan.