LAW AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE

MINUTES

June 21, 2010

The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, June 21, 2010 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Legislative Center’s Freedom Room.  Chairman Marlene Allen called the meeting to order. Those present were Kevin Chambliss, Riley Oncken and Anita Turner.  Michael Stuckert and Derek Tyson were absent.  A quorum was present.  Others present were Marilyn Stromborg, Jill Olson, John Farrell and Margi Gilmour. 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from May 2010.     

Mr. Tyson arrived at 6:34p.m.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Moved by Mr. Chambliss, seconded by Mr. Oncken, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda

CASA UPDATE – MS. JILL OLSON

          Ms. Olson, Executive Director of DeKalb County CASA, presented her update to the committee.  She covered the last six months of operations for her organization.  In the last three years, their numbers have gone up about 20%.  They have graduated 6 advocates and have already assigned cases to them.  They will be starting a new class this Fall.

          Mr. Oncken asked Ms. Olson if they are having any luck in attracting men to become advocates

          Ms. Olson said that they have young professionals in the community who are looking for leadership roles who volunteer.  They are in need of men of color for advocates right now.

STATE’S ATTORNEY’S UPDATE – MR. JOHN FARRELL

          Mr. John Farrell, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, approached the committee with an update on his department. 

          Mr. Farrell said that the caseload in his department is increasing considerably from a year ago.  From this point last year they were at about 370 felony dispositions and they are up about 400 cases right now. The number of felony cases that have been filed are about 450 cases.  Misdemeanor numbers are pretty much the same as last year.    

          Mr. Farrell said that they have had some high profile cases recently go to trial.    He said that if any of the county board members have any questions about these cases to contact him directly.

          Mr. Farrell informed the committee that his office has lost one juvenile attorney.  He will be interviewing people for the new assistant’s position shortly.

DRUG COURT UPDATED – MS. MARILYN STROMBORG

          Ms. Stromborg, DeKalb County’s Drug Court Coordinator, updated the committee on the drug court. 

          She said that they have admitted about 1/3 of everyone that they interview.  Since the Drug Court had been created they have held 4 graduations and 21 graduates.  Only 1 person has incurred a criminal charge.  That person is back on track now.  They have 4 people who are going through the process now to enter into the program.  There are 23 people currently enrolled.  They have 3 African Americans, 17 Caucasians, and 3 Hispanics.  They have dismissed 7 people so far. 

          The biggest thing that has come up in Drug Court is that they need a halfway house for men and women in this county.  They have 8 or 9 people in facilties outside of the county and it’s becoming a major problem.  They are working on this issue with the Ben Gordon Center.  Ms. Stromborg said that they need to look at a halfway house because they can’t have a viable program with 50% of their clients in facilities outside of DeKalb County.

          They have 4 people in Jail now waiting for beds. They are doing okay financially and they are bringing in about $188,000. They still have money from the Earmark Grant – around $70,000.  They have a $9,000 grant from the Mental Health Board, too.  She has applied for a Federal Grant and has not heard anything yet on that one.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

          Ms. Regina Harris, the DeKalb County Public Defender, was not present.   

COURT SERVICES REPORTS – MS. MARGI GILMOUR

          Ms. Gilmour, Director of the DeKalb County Court Services Department, reported that in the Adult Report it shows that they have been busy and that 31 new cases were added in May.  The CRS hours show that they have been busy there too, with over 7,000 hours ordered and a little over 3,400 hours completed.

          Her Juvenile Report shows that they had 10 detention admissions in May.  There were 10 kids for the first time for detentions.  One was for the 10^th time, 2 were for the 7^th time, 1 for the 6^th time,  4 for the 1^st time, 1 for the 2^nd time and 1 for the 3^rd time.

JAIL REPORT

Chairman Allen briefly covered the Jail Report and said that the numbers haven’t varied much over the last few months.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                Respectfully submitted,

                                                _________________________________

                                                Marlene Allen, Chairman

MA:mcs

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