St. Lawrence CountyDRAFTOperations Committee

Board of LegislatorsMonday, October 17, 2011

Board RoomImmediately following Services Committee

Members Attending:Mr. Peck,Mr. Acres, Mr. Akins, Mr. Arquiett, Ms. Brothers, Mr. Burns,Mr. Bunstone, Mr. Lightfoot, Mr. MacKinnon, Mr. Morrill,Mr. Paquin, Mr. Parker, Mr. Putman, Mr. Putney, and Mr. Sutherland

Others Attending: Karen St. Hilaire, Chandra Coffey, Ruth Doyle, Mike Crowe, Chris Rediehs, Nancy Robert, Jason Pfotenhauer, Joe Gray, Darren Colton, Chris Boulio, and Media Representative Martha Ellen – Northern New York Newspapers

1. CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA – Chair Peck called the meetingto order at 6:02 p.m. Mr. Bunstone moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Mr. Arquiett, and carried.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES –Mr. Morrill moved to approve the minutes of September 19, 2011, seconded by Mr. Putman and Mr. Bunstone, and carried.

3. SHERIFF’S OFFICE – KEVIN WELLS

A. Modifyingthe 2011 Sheriff’s Office Budget to Purchase Equipment (Res) –Mr. Burns moved to forward this resolution to full Board, seconded byMr. Morrill. Mr. MacKinnonasked if it is a vehicle that can be used a patrol car. Sheriff Wells said no, it could not be used as a marked vehicle. He said we are required to keep it for two years, then we will sell it for the purchase of two additional vehicles. Mr. MacKinnon asked if it can be used to lessen the cost of vehicles in the Sheriff’s Office Budget. Sheriff Wells said they will be using the vehicle and there are no vehicles in their budget this year. Ms. St. Hilaire said it will allow other County vehicles to be moved around. Mr. MacKinnon asked the value of the vehicle. Sheriff Wells said he would like to discuss details of the vehicle in Executive Session but the$6,500 is the amount of the lean for the vehicles, not the value of the vehicle. Motion carried.

Mr. Burns asked how arethe number at the jail. Sheriff Wells said as of yesterday morning there were 16 females and the total population was 138. He will email the exact numbers to the Legislators tomorrow if these numbers are wrong. Mr. Morrill asked if we have any out-of-County prisoners. Sheriff Wells said we have someFranklinCounty prisoners and he will send those numbers as well. Mr. MacKinnon asked how long the jail has been open. Sheriff Wells said it has been one and a half years and the average population is about 140 to 142 prisoners. Sheriff Wells said our adult male and female numbers have been running high. We have approval to double cell, but we have not had to do that yet.

4. COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR – KAREN ST. HILAIRE

A. Modifyingthe 2011 Indigent Defense Budget for Assigned Counsel (Res) (Info) –

Mr. Lightfoot moved to forward this resolution to full Board, seconded by Ms. Brothers and Mr. Putman. Mr. Lightfoot said in looking over the assigned counsel financials appeals, it shows we budgeted $200,000 year-to-date as of September and $142,000 has been expended which leaves over $58,000. He wonders why we are increasing that by $30,000 when it looks like it will come in right on budget. Ms. St.Hilaire said this year may be high.

Mr. Lightfoot said of criminal cases, we are proposing to transfer into that account and it looks like we will spend another$82,000. If that is the case, we will exceed that amount. In Family Court we are $10,000 beneath what was budgeted and it appears that if we continue on at this rate we will spend another$50,000 and bringing in another$30,000 it still going to leave us $8,000 short. He said according to his math assigned counsel will be $170,000 shortby the end of the year if this trend continues. Ms. St Hilaire said Ms. Doyle may have answers. Ms. Doyle said that Ms.Vecchio of Indigent Defense is looking at bills to pay right now. Last year we asked for two separate allocations and ended the year over the amount. They may need to ask for more and will come back if they need too. Mr. Lightfoot said in looking ahead to next year’s budget, he does not see this shortfall in the 2012 budget. Mr.Lightfoot asked Mr. Button what constitutes a case. Mr. Button said one arrest is a case.

Mr. Putney asked if Mr. Oxley moved out of area and was no longer eligible for a public defender. Ms. St. Hilaire said he has been given public defender, but as a repay. The County is also paying an assistant to his defense attorney.

Mr. Morrill said he disagrees with Mr. Lightfoot’s math and he feels you cannot trend these kinds of accounts as you may not have consistent services.

Ms. St. Hilaire said some of the assigned counsel attorneys are making substantial pay from this service and we should come back later to discuss this further. Mr. Morrill said he thinks we spend a lot of money on this and it seems like highexpenses. He feels we should take a closer look at this to make sure we are doing this the most efficient way possible. Mr. Burns said he has the same concerns as Mr. Morrill, and we havediscussed this for a while and need to look into this further. He asked if this was mandated by the State. Ms. St. Hilaire said the United States Constitution requires us to do this service. She said we donot have a better solution at the moment, and she is not sure an ideal solution is even possible.

Mr. Arquiett said he understands the obligation to serve and he explained the repay program.

Ms. St. Hilaire said the judge can give anyone an attorney and require them to pay at a per hour rate.

Mr. Akins said if you look at open cases, they are significantly more than last year. His projection of expenditure would be higher. Mr. Akins asked Mr. Button to explain the open and closed cases. Mr. Button said some cases carry over to the following year. Mr. Akins said the assigned counsel cases are over 25% higher than last year. Mr. Button explained that the closed cases are done so by assigned counsel are less than the Public Defender’s and Conflict Defender’s closed cases because they close them when they bill the account and that is not done in a timely manner in some cases.

Mr. Acres said if you look at 2009 actual and 2010 in Family Court, there is a large jump and he wondered why. Ms. St Hilaire said that is hard to predict but they can look into this. Mr. Acres asked Mr. Button if he had any cost cutting ideas for the County. Mr. Button said he would be happy to discuss this with anyone in Executive Session or he would speak with Ms. St. Hilaire and they wouldbring ideas forward. Motion carried.

5. OLD/NEW BUSINESS

Mr. Burns brought a resolution forward that he distributed on Legislators’ desk.

A. Requesting Regional Economic Development Council to Designate Construction of Interstate 98 (I-98) as Priority Project (Res) – Mr. Burns moved to forward this resolution to full Board, seconded by Mr. Paquin, Mr. Arquiett, Mr. Putney, Mr. Morrill and Mr. Bunstone. Mr. Burns said the Governor has created Regional EconomicDevelopment Councils and they are formulating plans on projects from each council and will be designated as projects to move forward. He said his concern is that without I-98,being designated as priority it will be lost and only hopes and dreams of all of us. Without I-98 we are subjecting ourselves to the same economic difficulties that we have faced for the last 100 years. We have interstates to the Westand East of us and those areas are both of doing better economically then we are. Many companies will tell you that without I-98, businesseswill not come here. He said he feels without the construction of I-98, very little will happen in our region. We need to have the Regional Council understand that this is a priority and it needs to be done not just for the jobs it will create in the construction of I-98, but what it will do to our region when it is constructed.

Mr. Arquiett said one of the biggest obstacles for economic developmentin our region is the lack of infrastructure. The number of folks I meet with daily in my lobbying efforts for I-98 continually believe there is no money out there for it. It is part of a federal highway bill and the money has already been allocated. He said he thinks the people in this region all need to all get on the same page and say the there is a need for I-98 and it will happen.

Ms. Brothers saidshe is a Representative on the North Country Regional Council and they just had a public forum in Potsdam. Ms. Brother has been speaking on behalf of I98 and she said she has received some really good responses.The Governor and Lieutenant Governor havespoken and said they want a transformative project and they want a five to one leverage on the project. Ms. Brothers said this one would be much more than that. Having the interstate would change our lifestyle enormously. If this passes tonight, she would like copies to hand out to the North Country Regional Development Council at the meeting on Friday. She requests a friendly amendment and that is to add Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand should be on the resolution to receive this.

Mr. Morrill said yes, they should receive this as well. He said he agrees with Ms. Brothers that they are looking for transformational projects and no others in the State that could match this project.

Mr. Acres said we spoke about this before. He said he thinks that improvements need to be made to the existing Route 11 corridor and that would have more immediate benefits to our area. He said what we need to push is our tourism, agriculture, high tech industries, and education. If you look at the corridor of the proposed I-98, it takes a lot of land and would result in eminent domain issues. He said we need to improve the infrastructure we currently have and this would have more impact on jobs locally. The likelihood of the I-98 coming together is remote.

Mr. Arquiett asked the Chair to recognized Jason Clark. Mr. Clark said in order to orchestrate what needs to be done and make change; we need a major conduit to make this happen. Without the basic key infrastructure such as interstates and airports, you will never see commerce in this region. This is critically important and he supports the efforts they are making tonight.

Mr. Burns thanked Mr. Clark for his comments. He apologized for bad quality of information that is found on the back of the resolution. It provides beneficial information of what an interstate could mean to us. It is difficult to discuss taking land at this time, but a highway would be sited to not use farm land as much as possible. The overall picture is that sometimes you have to do something major to improve economic conditions and without the construction of I-98 we are subjecting our area as being “backwoods”.

Mr. Acres saidbased on the arguments presented tonight, with all the exits we have off of Route 81, we should be bustling metropolises of activity. Your argument for having this interstate would bring more activity is not correct because we already have Route 81 and it is not happening. There are other reasons why the North Country is not being developed. He said he thinks we should be furthering our relationship with our neighbors. He feels Plattsburgh and Watertown do not care about an intersection between their interstates.

Mr. Morrill said he thinks that one thing that is missing is the intersection of the two interstates. He said he disagrees that there is very little economic development off Route 81 as it goes all the way to the South and there is a lot of commercial activity all along Route 81. As far as the farm- land that may stand in the way and may be turned into highway, we have thousands of acres that are unused or misused and he did not feel it would be missed much. It may be disruptive, but so is any kind of change. He said he we need I-98.

Mr. MacKinnon said he had an opportunity to check out Interstate 86 and it was interesting how they put it together. He compared it to Route 11 in Gouverneur.

Mr. Putney said eminent domain has had a long history in the United States. There were many projects in which eminent domain is used and is very successful. He provided a few examples. We are the only region left in New York State that does not have access to a four lane highway. If people want lower taxes and an expanded tax base then they want I-98. This project will transform theNorth Country and help the surrounding Counties. Our neighbors will benefit from the use of this highway and anything we can do to encourage people to come to St. Lawrence County and spend their money is a positive thing.

Mr. Peck said this may not be something we see a benefit of right away, this is long term planning for St. Lawrence County.He said he will support this and he will ask for a roll call vote.

Mr. Akins said is there a local cost to this right now. Mr. Peck said this Board has gone on record before of support to I-98. This supports the plan for the Regional EconomicDevelopmentand shows our support of this.

Motion carried by a roll call vote of twelve (12) yes votes, two (2) no votes (Akins and Acres), and one (1) absent (Parker).

Ms. St. Hilaire said Senator Griffo will support language to support the State take over Medicaid costs. She looked at the Assembly Bill and did not see local representatives on there; she sent anencouraging note to them.

Ms. St. Hilaire spoke of the proceedings books that are made each year and informed the Legislators that we are cutting costs by making fewer books and by not mailing them out. The cost is about $2,300 per year. We will post them online and we have a few copies here.

Ms. St. Hilaire handed out the schedule for budget reviews and told the Legislators they could do each department separately, if they desired.

Mr. Peck said as member of the IDABoard, he would like partner agencies reviews to happen after the 27th because of a meeting that is scheduled. Mr. Morrill said he thought an early look at the Board of Legislators Budget was important so that is why he suggested that be first but it is only a draft so the Board can decide how to proceed. Mr. MacKinnon saidhe had no problem with the schedule. Mr. Peck said the full IDABoard has not been able to meet about the County Budget. The Board and Partner Agencies were changed to November 1 and the Public Defender’s Review was changed to the 24th. The consensus was to meet with all the departments for review.

Mr. Paquin said our Partner Agencies need to know that they should not to come here and beg for money. He did not want it to become a circus and said this is not the time to come and ask for an increase in funds. Mr. Peck agreed.

Mr. Morrill said there will probably not be much support for adding money to the budget, but he feels the Board should not say they couldnot ask for what they need. It is up to us and listen to those requests and do what we think is right for our constituents of our County. He said he thinks we need to hear everything.

Mr. MacKinnon said there will probably be not too many changes to the budget. He said he knows this to be a long and boring experience, but would be good for those that have not been through this before. It is a worthwhile experience and an opportunity to see people you may not normally see.

Mr. Arquiett asked that the revised schedule be emailed to the Legislators.

Ms. Brothers said let us have the Board of Legislators and Partner Agencies at the end to allow the other Departments to have their say. She said we should move them to the 15th. Mr. Morrill said he disagrees as he thinks there are real issues that have to be addressed. The casino money is in the Budget at $2.2 million, we will either receive $0 or $3 million, there are contracts with some of the Partner Agencies that we need to know how we can change those contracts to suit the budget. There are issues that are important to the entire budgeting process.

Mr. Morrill said the other real important issue is the Treasurer’s line for sales tax, and what we anticipate. He said he can live with wherever it goes, but would like to see it closer to the beginning of review.

Mr. Putman said he will be out of town for the first four meetings and asked if minutes were taken at these meeting. Ms. St. Hilaire said yes.

Mr. Morrill said we have an $800,000 difference in compact money that could affect our Partner Agencies and can affect the entire budget.

Chair Peck asked to have a vote taken by raise of hands tochange the Budget review schedule. Motion failed by a vote of two (2) yes votes and twelve (12) novotes and one absent (Parker). The Partner Agencies will be as originally scheduled on Tuesday, November 1st from7 p.m. to 9 p.m.along with theBoard of LegislatorsOffice.

Mr. Morrill said we will have more knowledge of sales tax later and may want to have Treasurer’s Department later for review.

Mr. MacKinnon said we gave Ms. St. Hilaire the authority to fill or not fill positions and she has done a good job. He asked what staffing do we have as of tomorrow in the Board office.

Ms. St. Hilaire said Kelly Pearson will take over Chandra Coffey’sPosition as Deputy Clerkon Monday and AmberBall will come in as the Secretary to the Board. Ms. Ball came in today for training. Mr. MacKinnon said he feels at some point there needs to be a thorough evaluation of what we ask of the staff in that office. In light of everyone being asked to do with less, we may want to consider that as well but if we want to maintain the same level of service, we cannot expect one person to do all the meetings. If we attempt to have verbatim minutes taken, that takes a lot of time. The minutes are intended to describe actions of body and transcribing discussion is not a requirement. Especially when those doing minutes are not trained as stenographers. It is not the same as a court stenographer. He said he even questions if every BoardMember reads every word of those minutes. He said he did not always. All that is necessary is the general idea,a summary, of what was done. Also, he thought the officecould use an answering machine even though he hates them, but maybe if we are trying to save money, it could be a possibility. He would like the opportunity to discuss the requirements of the office and the talk about saving money with having one less person.