DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

December 11, 2007

Administration Building Conference Room 300

MINUTES

Committee Members Present:Carl C. Danberg, Commissioner; Tom Carroll, Deputy Commissioner; Rick Kearney, Chief of Bureau of Prisons; Rodney Gibbons, Chief Information Officer; Noreen Renard, Chief Bureau of Community Corrections; Ed Synoski, Deputy Principal Assistant, Management Services; Alan Machtinger, Director, H.R. & Development; Kathy Mickle-Askin, Director of Training; Janet Durkee, Deputy H.R. Director; Joe Paesani, Deputy Principal Assistant, Community Corrections; Dan Cox, Director, Emergency Preparedness; John Painter, Chief Media Relations, Rich Seifert, Deputy Principal Assistant, Bureau of Prisons; Debbi Craig, Planner V; Aaron Goldstein, Deputy Attorney General; Jim Welch, Medical Director; Gail Stallings-Minor, Chief Community Relations; Britta Strop, Diversity Coordinator; Ron Drake, IA Director

Guest:

Dr. Janet Kramer

Bob Sadusky

CALL TO ORDER

Carl C. Danberg, Commissioner, called the meeting to order at 9:02a.m.

Motion to accept the last month’s minutes by Tom Carroll, 2nd by Rodney Gibbons. Unanimous, Approved

STATUS OF THE DEPARTMENT (Commissioner’s Comments)

  • Warden position at DCC is still vacant, interviews are over but no decision has been made.
  • HRYCI Warden posting closed, 18 candidates, only 7 candidates were qualified.
  • There are only 12 more months under the current administration, with that said the Commissioner has asked that everyone keep moving forward on key issues we are currently working on and also to start thinking about archiving items that will be useful in the future. Commissioner Danberg will see that everyone gets a copy of the archiving policy to review and share with their staff.

BUREAU REPORTS

Bureau of Prisons, Bureau Chief Rick Kearney:

  • Carl Barker new Prison Industries Director is on board. He has been meeting with the PI staff to get a feel for DOC PI. Expect to be hearing suggestions from Carl soon.
  • Bureau count has been receding; hope to be closing the gym to beds at GH. Webb transition has slowed this process down. Rick, Joe and Noreen are working on moving people around.
  • Paperwork for the new position of Bureau grievance officer position should be leaving DOC by Friday, December 14th.
  • Raphael’s retirement party is Thursday, December 13th, anyone wishing to attend is welcome.
  • BWCI count is at 406

Bureau of Community Corrections, Bureau Chief Noreen Renard:

  • Toured Cherry Lane this past week. The projected occupancy date is Dec 31st however that is not definite. The building is large; it has room for training as well as room for community meetings. When everything is done we plan to have an open house.
  • GPS working diligently to get all Tier III sex offenders on GPS systems by Christmas. We are hoping that all the kinks have been worked out so that the system is up and running smoothly.
  • Still reviewing and working on identifying offenders for home confinement. One issue is the number of offenders who, for various reasons, do not want to participate.
  • Commissioner asked Rick Kearny and Tony Rendina to continue to check Level V offenders who are within the 180 day release to see if they would be eligible for home confinement.
  • P&P Community/restructure committee is working hard to identify the group’s responsibility and duties.
  • Next P&P officers class will start February 4, 2008.
  • Commissioner mentioned that there is a Webb transition meeting Monday, December 17th in the evening for anyone interested in attending.

Bureau of Management Services, Deputy Bureau Chief Ed Synoski:

  • Continue to work with Maureen Querey, OMB on the budget.
  • Small budget group continue with the straight line. Commissioner asked that we keep close watch on spending.
  • Ed is working with EDC on the two day EP training. The training has been scheduled for January.

BMS cont’d

  • Commissioner Danberg tasked Ed with working on contract for sheets, pillowcases, etc.

Tom:

  • MDF: Candidate selection should be final by Friday, December 14th. 1. Thirty candidates will be selected; the group will be a very diverse group.
  1. Kick off is set for January 3rd.
  2. Training will start the 1st of February.
  3. All candidates will be notified at the same time.
  4. Candidates not selected will be given an action plan to prepare for future opportunities.

OLD BUSINESS:

  • NABCJ meeting is tomorrow, December 12, at 6 pm, in room 300.
  • Rev Derrick Johnson’s program “Project Life” is taking place this week at the institutions.

Aaron: Nothing

Gail:

  • Furniture from the ReddingMuseum is with Prison Industries to be refurbished

Debbi:

  • DAC Steering group is working on the work order ticket issue. Top priority has been given to CNTI to review.
  • Policy review group: several policies have been given to Commissioner Danberg for signature. The group is working on making the policies clear and easy to understand.
  • PREA: would like to see this get started back up with the Moss group coming back to DOC in February. Debbi plans to have money set aside to use for this program.
  • Gary has really been a great asset with the communication radios. SCI and SVOP have been selected for a pilot program. The kick off will be in the next couple of months.

Joe P:

  • Invited everyone to attend his meet and greet going away building luncheon on December 20th at 11 am.

Alan:

  • Introduction of Britta Strop, Diversity Coordinator.
  • Next job fair is scheduled for February 2, 2008
  • C/O status:

12/11 CEIT Class 174 40 cadets (new class)

12/21 CEIT Class 17334 cadets (graduates)

2/15 CEIT Class 174 (graduates) anticipates 115 vacancies

Jim Welch:

  • DOJ Mental Health group is here this week, Gander Hill on December 12/10-11, DCC on December 12-13.
  • Next report from the courts and the monitoring group is due out December 28th.
  • Jim is working with Jerry and Rick to find areas in GH/DCC that can be converted for medical/mental health use.
  • Jim has also spoken with Warden Burris at DCC about using the small space behind the kitchen area as an exam room.
  • Medication room at GH is moving.
  • Suicide training is 98% complete. Working on cleaning up the few that have been missed.
  • DAC medical module still going well, it is really helping out with identification.

Rodney:

  • Cleaning up medical module.
  • Working on remote access policy agreement.
  • Start group-working to identify areas that need to be worked on.
  • Reporting group: today’s meeting was cancelled; need to go back over materials to determine what is needed.
  • Need to set up DACs training for Commissioner Danberg.
  • DACs steering committee: right now there are approximately 450 work orders. If we did not receive any additional work orders the approximate time to clear the back log on the 450 work orders would be 3 years.

Kathy:

  • Range schedule now on the intranet, changes will be color coded.

Commissioner Danberg met with some of the range neighbors; biggest complaint is not DOC but other agencies that are using the range. Complaints are the loud noise/music, large groups hanging out.

DOC range will be for DOC and Kids Department only unless approved by DOC and then only during daytime hours.

The range needs to be moved approximately 100 yards back and to the east.

  • Met with CNTI December 10th, reviewed the system that is being built for EDC. Working on our needs with CNTI.
  • Gang training is scheduled at SVOP this week.
  • EDC moves are not complete yet, hold up is the furniture.

Ron:nothing

Britta:

  • Visited some of the institutions.
  • Met with DCC Deputy Warden Pierce yesterday and discussed the idea of a buddy program and plan to attend the diversity meeting tomorrow.
  • Working on a few new programs:

 Working on starting up a diversity news letter

 Leadership forum for new supervisors

 Satisfactory survey for employees, broken down to years of service

Dan: nothing

Rich:

  • CNTI met with BOP to discuss analysis of Prison Industries accounting system and possibility alternative. Final draft is in edit phase.

Janet: nothing

John Painter:nothing

NEW BUSINESS

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Guest:

Dr. Janet Kramer: interested in attending the meeting

Bob Sadusky:

  • all the issues he brought up last meeting have been resolved
  • local Dover business man is interesting and willing to build a house for sex offenders.
  • Complimented P&P

Next Executive meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 8th.

Motion to go into closed session Rich, 2nd Tom, unanimous. Opened 10:33

Motion to Adjourn:. Joe P, 2nd Rodney 11:14 am