CCMinutes - 05/10/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--City Hall May 10, 2004 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Betty Taylor, Gary Pap6, Jennifer Solomon, David Kelly. His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. A. WORK SESSION: Discussion of Lane County Public Safety Issues City Manager Dennis Taylor thanked the council for providing an opportunity for District Attorney Douglas Harcleroad and Sheriff Jan Clements to discuss some of the public safety issues facing Lane County. Sheriff Clements said that the County's public safety issues were shared by Eugene because the criminal justice system was wholly interdependent. He asserted that he did not want funding from Eugene. He said it was important to look for a long-term solution to the public safety system and he wanted the City to understand the current system deficits and a collaborative effort to influence County priorities in the short-, intermediate-, and long-term. He related that Eugene could double its police force and every officer added would have diminishing effectiveness because of deficits in the greater system. He said that until there was adequate jail and correctional space, adequate prosecutorial capacity, adequate supervision through parole and probation, adequate youth services, and capacity, intervention, and prevention programming, the system would not make the most efficient use of Eugene's law enforcement officers. He asked Eugene elected officials and Eugene and Springfield judges to coalesce around a plan to adequately resource the juvenile and adult systems. He distributed a handout detailing the cuts that would result from the County's proposed $1,279,559 in reductions to the Sheriff's Office budget for fiscal years 2004-2005. Ms. Nathanson arrived at 5:35 p.m. District Attorney Harcleroad stated that Lane County had 400 police officers in nine agencies and Eugene's police force was the largest. He said those 400 officers generated 8,000 criminal cases in the system, with Eugene's officers contributing the majority. He said that some of the cases, misdemeanors, were dealt with in municipal court, but all of the cases went to the District Attorney's Office. He said the District Attorney's Office had 25 positions, although two were vacant. Mr. Harcleroad indicated that a recent evaluation of 76 district attorney offices around the country by the American Prosecutors Research Institute determined that his office was understaffed by seven positions. He said the County's proposed budget would result in a 19 percent decrease in funding and eliminate six positions, leaving 19 attorneys to handle 8,000 cases. He anticipated that 3,650 cases, of which 2,000 were misdemeanors, would no longer be prosecuted and in fact had already begun to reject cases such as harassment, criminal mischief, trespassing, and second degree theft. Mr. Harcleroad related that if the proposed budget was adopted, his office would MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 10, 2004 Page 1 Work Session