Published: September 23, 2008 10:08 am      

BOS discuss hiring expeditor

CLINTON — The Clinton County Board of Supervisors discussed the possibility of hiring an expeditor to oversee the local criminal justice system during Monday's meeting. The board heard from Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln and Clinton County Attorney Mike Wolf, who explained the expeditor would help to “streamline” things and reduce overcrowding at the Clinton County Jail.

The concept was originally presented to the board in August after representatives from the National Institute of Corrections visited Clinton at the request of Lincoln to assess the county's jail to find possible solutions for overcrowding. Though the assessment praised the staff, they found the jail to be woefully out-of-date and undersized to meet the county's needs.

“(The Clinton County Jail) is the worst jail in all of them that they've ever seen,” Wolf stated, adding that the “great staff” somehow makes it work.

The NIC consultants also suggested the formalizing of the Jail Taskforce into a county sanctioned entity that would consist of up to 16 decision-makers or department heads involved in the county criminal justice system, including jail staff, clerks, deputies, police officers, county attorneys, probation officers and defense attorneys, as well as mental health case workers and substance abuse counselors. The CCCJCC would be responsible for implementing policies and procedures, and would be authorized by the local government through a 28E Agreement to create a total criminal justice system management plan, and Lincoln noted that no member of the committee would have more power than another.

According to the NIC recommendations, the county would hire an expeditor to oversee the CCCJCC. The consultants found that one of the major contributing factors to overcrowding at the Clinton County Jail was the significant percentage of inmates being housed prior to sentencing, a factor that may be able to be addressed administratively by the prosecutor and courts to assist in lowering the jail population by expediting the processing of cases.

The NIC suggested the county hire an expeditor who could help speed up case processing and reduce the amount of time until disposition.

During the August meeting, the supervisors advised Lincoln to look further into the process of creating the committee and moved to give their support to the establishment of the CCCJCC, and to consider funding a paid staff person in the form of an expeditor.

Lincoln returned on Monday to tell the board he has been in contact with NIC representative Thomas Weber, a justice system consultant with Solutions for Court and Community Corrections, and funding has been approved to allow Weber, who participated in the original jail assessment, to return to Clinton to help coordinate the CCCJCC and oversee the hiring of an expeditor. He noted the term “expeditor” is being used to describe the paid staff person for lack of a better term, and pointed out that expediting court cases would be just one of many duties.

Lincoln noted that while the NIC has currently been taken out of the federal government's budget, he is optimistic the funding will return and the department will be reinstated.

Funding has been informally approved to allow three to four representatives from Clinton to conduct site visits to the communities of LaCrosse, Wis., and Winona, Minn., which have recently implemented criminal justice coordinating committees and hired expeditors with much success, and may serve as models for the county.

Lincoln told the board he has spoken with the expeditor in Minnesota, who stated that her position “never really had a job description,” and has evolved over time to include following cases, monitoring trends, with an overall goal of increasing the efficiency of the local criminal justice system.



Meeting Watch

Clinton County Board of Supervisors

The board took the following action at its regular meeting Monday:

Approved by resolution:

• Retained the services of J. Robert Hopson to complete the 509A certification for the Clinton County Health Benefit Plan fiscal year 2007-2008, and directed the County Auditor to file the 509A certification along with the necessary $100 filing fee.



Approved by motion:

• Authorized the Chairman to sign the Home and Community Based Waiver Slot Assignment for individuals with mental retardation for Jan 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009.

• Authorized the Chairman to sign Utility Permit #16-129 for Iowa Telecom to place cable within the county right-of-way in sections 16 and 21 of Welton Township, along 190th Street, in order to provide service to a new home at 2487 190th Street.