Knox County Commissioners Approve Jail Consultant, Federal Grant

[0:03] Commissioner (presiding/chair): I will call this,. Today's date September 24th special meeting of the notes down in order. All 3 commissions are here, and therefore, as we do in most of these. I will open the floor to the commissioners to see if there's any commission updates you've had that you would like to share. [0:33] Commissioner (steering committee member): The only update I might have, but it's related to an action item. So I think I can wait on that. [0:42] Commissioner (presiding/chair): Today I don't either at the moment. And then I open it up to public comments or any member of the public would like to address the commission. Seeing any, we'll move on to the action items. And we have a couple of action items on this, you know, structural agenda. Agenda one is an act to authorize the sheriff to sign an agreement between the county of Knox and Veraldana and the LLP of Portland for services related to the facilities facilitation of regional correctional governance and development do I have a motion so moved second movement I will turn it over to the sheriff to introduce this to be so kind. Thank you. So this is the next part in our corrections journey. [1:38] Commissioner: So, just to bring education for everybody at home. I know most of you know this, but we started something called the district 6 corrections collaborative somewhere around 2019 is when we started talking about it sometime around 2022 is when we actually came up with some formal. Governance model loosely and we've been evolving ever since then so the goal of that was to help try to stabilize what we were seeing as commissioners and as sheriffs across all these counties so when I say district six that's the prosecutorial district which includes us Knox County Lincoln County Sagatow County and Wallow County so trying to stabilize those costs That we're seeing continually rise, especially during and post code, especially around medical or staffing and other things. In some cases, seeing almost an untenable future, some of the projections and rising costs. So that was really the driving force of doing that. It's how can we, as the 4 counties best support each other. Trying to be as efficient and non-duplicative in our services to take care of our correction responsibilities. So fast forward a few years, we contracted with a company called SMRT. They kind of did what we were calling kind of a phase one, which is assess all four counties and our facilities and our operations. So really kind of trying to do a robust review of all four 4 counties and what our demands were, but also what we were able to offer that, or it was approved by you folks earlier this year and it kind of laid out that roadmap for us. So, here's all the options you have, you can decide, you know, either at 1 county, 2 counties, 3 counties, or the path you all want to take and how you want to take that. So that path at least currently is with two southern counties of Lincoln and Saginaw through their facility, Two Bridges Regional Jail. We had an unfortunate issue with our budget forum last year, which forces us to take some hard looks and faster looks at that SMRT study than we had hoped. So this contract specifically is our portion. So the other two commissions, Lincoln and Saginaw County also have to take a similar vote to this to approve using Dana Merrill as basically the consultant to help us on both the facility side of things, the governance side of things, but also the legislative process. Process because a lot of corrections stop, even though we talk about it in these meetings ends up getting codified an actual state law, which requires legislative support. So that's kind of what this is doing. So, everybody within that selection committee recommended them because of the work they've done in the past connect specifically to corrections that was forwarded on to us as our own committee, which a few members are adhering this evening. We all reviewed it and came up with the same conclusion that this company, though a little more than the others, is going to be able to very quickly do everything we need to do. We are kind of on a tight timeframe. We're trying to get ahead of cloture, which is sometime near the end of December. So that was kind of the driving force for most of us was let's get it done quickly with somebody who can get it done that has experience doing it. Some of the vendors did not have experience, doesn't mean they weren't horrible, but we just thought there might be a lag time in trying to get them caught up in some of the things that we were trying to expedite. So I know Commissioner Hynde has a little bit of experience with this because she also sits on the committee as your representative as commissioners, so I'll let her provide her feedback as well. [5:26] Commissioner (steering committee member): Thanks. Thanks, Sheriff. So I am on the steering committee for this work, and then also I worked as one of the three reviewers of the proposals for this RFP. And as Sheriff Wilkie said, the review committee did come to a unanimous decision quite easily, actually, just given and Beryl Dana and Jim Cohen's experience working with counties in Maine and his knowledge and their office's knowledge of counties. And again, as the Sheriff said, his ability to hit the ground running with the legislative session, I think is really important to move this forward without, unfortunately, if we aren't able to move it forward in this legislative session, we're looking at another two years likely unless we have a case for emergency legislation in the second half of the biennium, which is a little bit harder to do. So I think the expediting is important and working with the right vendors is important. And Lincoln County and Saginaw County, they have not their commissions have not voted yet but they are anticipating a vote no later than October 13th. I think they should have a vote from both counties commission boards of commission before then. So and I don't anticipate any of those counties rejecting the proposal from what I understand so far. So I think we're all highly aligned and ready to move. [7:12] Speaker D (unidentified): Is there a lot that, you're looking to do in the legislative session come upcoming. [7:20] Commissioner: For this in particular. Yeah. Yeah. So for 2 bridges to be a regional authority, there is a carved out piece of legislation specifically for that. So, yes, we have to go through the nuances of by adding a 3rd county. How does that impact? Not just that carved out section, but how does that impact the other parts of 30 a, and that's what we feel Dana mayor will be able to do for us is. Identify those things much quicker than some other vendors may have been able to. [7:51] Speaker D (unidentified): This is essential this year because we made such a substantial change. [7:55] Commissioner (presiding/chair): Change well, if we want to become a member of full standing member of the 2 bridges collaborative. We have to get legislative approval. You know, so that's part of the step along the way if we're going to keep going in that direction, it's not, we can keep doing what we're doing. [8:13] Commissioner: Correct and that's and that's part of this is not necessarily to push us in 1 direction or another is to help us expedite all the options. [8:21] Commissioner (presiding/chair): And some of the governance part is so that we understand the makeup of the new committee, whatever committee is running 2 bridges at that point, if we become a full member, may change their makeup. And see if they come up with a better way of doing it, and therefore get that legislative approval. Do we, it doesn't say that here, I don't think. How much is this part of our commitment to, [8:51] Commissioner: So our portion of this is going to be approximately 27,033 dollars and 33 or 34 cents. So it's a 3rd of the overall cost, which is 81,100. 100 plus applicable travel, if they have to do travel, most of it can be done remotely and through online sources. So we don't anticipate a whole lot of travel, but we would also pay a 3rd of the travel as well. How long a time period does that cover? I think it's going to be through the legislative process. So, in through next year. So, essentially, it's like I said, it's a basically a contract to do the work. For however long that it takes, plus travel. [9:39] Speaker D (unidentified): So we anticipate any problems with the legislative process. Well, [9:47] Commissioner: We are coming into the midterm election. Yes, we are. So we don't know exactly what it will be for concerns. However, with three counties coming in unified, usually with mixed political views, I see that it probably will be a pretty partisan bill. I don't think there'll be much resistance, especially if we are looking to stabilize what we're trying to do, which is our corrections costs. [10:12] Commissioner (presiding/chair): 1 of the problems we have is we don't know who's going to be on the committees next year, and Jim, this is Jim Cohen. We deal with on the, from the county, the commission association, these are lobbyists for that he's quite familiar with the counties and our issues to start off with [10:37] Commissioner: Which is good and they gave in a lot of the legislators if a lot of them end up being freshman I think even a lot of them are aware of what's been going on across all the counties because we're not unique the corrections problem is literally in every county I think you know the work that may kind of commissioners, the main sheriffs and main municipal have been doing together has really highlighted that for the legislative body. So, like I said, I don't see it really getting much resistance as much as it just may get scrutiny around. Is it the right wording? Is it the right? Governance model those types of things. So I think the nuances may be debated, but I think ultimately everybody will support whatever it is we come up with as long as it makes sense. [11:21] Commissioner (presiding/chair): You don't have to miss it. Something that passes the legislature still has to be signed by the governor. So there's got to be a certain amount of lobbying that goes to the governor's office to happen. I'll turn it to Kathy in terms of funding this. We have the money. [11:45] Commissioner (steering committee member): Actually, Bob confirms that he can cover the fortune we feel is going to hit in 26. [11:51] Commissioner (presiding/chair): Within his budget, and then we've added money to the 27 draft. Great, thank you. [12:00] Speaker D (unidentified): Another question is what we've done in combining with the 2 other counties. Is that becoming a model, or other counties around man that have had such serious problems? Are they looking to, and are the other facilities out there that other counties can do the same thing? [12:17] Commissioner: So, facility-wise, I'll answer first. The answer is yes, but it's more sparse, but it's similar to like we are experiencing. A lot of them built jails around the same time we did. Some were even older than that, and then some built jails after or during the same time tubers did. So, really, for me, that's the real box for all of us in county is our jail is either built at the right time or the wrong time, and we're very staff dependent. The way we're designed, you know, two bridges with a several complimentary staffing can supervise almost 3 times as many inmates. So, but yes, there are facilities could do it. We're not the only ones talking about this. So, the understand in the standard stock in Oxford and I believe are looking at something similar. They're very interested in watching what we're doing. So they've looked at it in particular, even though they're a larger county, they're dealing with their own challenges. But they're looking at some of the models that we've done, like, contract that we currently have with true bridges is not. Same type of contract they had done with other counties and housing their access. It is really changing some of that landscape is forcing in this last legislative session that it's closed a lot of positive movement with the legislature, even though appropriations and killed certain things and killed, maybe it's the wrong word, but it's only so much money. Good news is they were able to find some money to try to get closer to the obligation of corrections funding. They're supposed to give us a little extra this past year. No promises for the future, but they are trying to make it better. They said the legislative body doesn't understand the problem. It's just how do we get to a proper solution? [14:02] Speaker D (unidentified): So, the reason I asked, because if it's happening all over the state, then the legislators coming in will be, will be more informed and feel the responsibility to help this forward because it will save everybody a lot of time, money, energy, et cetera. [14:20] Commissioner: Right, and this is SMRT said, you know, this is not something done hardly anywhere else in the nation, let alone, you know, the state of Maine. Clearly Two Bridges is the only authority, but even within other states, you're not seeing a lot of counties working together necessarily. You may see one or two, you know, at the state level come with a state facility, but you're not seeing counties in particular. So I think, you know, if this is successful, I think you will see a shift from nationwide probably 10 to 20 years where we'll see more and more counties do a similar thing. [14:54] Commissioner (steering committee member): One other thing I might add is that a big part of this is the facilitation of the three counties and making sure that we have a neutral, not third party but fourth party, to help us through this process because there are going to be some really sensitive topics that we're going to have to work through and we can't do that on our own successfully. So we really do this third party to help us through that process. It's, it's not just about the legislation, it's really about, it's figuring out what are we all coming to the table with, what can we all bring to this relationship, and, you know, what will we all maintain as our own responsibilities, whether within our own counties of bubble we share, so there's a lot of work to be done beyond the legislation. That's very important. [15:44] Commissioner (presiding/chair): Looking to this, report to help us with what we're going to do with our, jail. [15:53] Commissioner: That is part of it. I think we will, we will obviously have to do something, depending on what the recommendation is, depending on what we all decide as the 3 bodies is, there is a potential look at it as all capital items are all overhead items become the authorities problem and then let them divvy it out, or there's also the potential to say, no, each county still keeps its county assets, and this is the part. And I think that's really what we're looking at this consultant to do is to help everybody work through that because there's varying opinions on age and value and other things. Having that 4th party will give that more objective view. [16:39] Commissioner (presiding/chair): No,, I'll call the vote. All those in favor. 3 in favor, none of those. Next 1 is an act to authorize the sheriff to sign the fiscal year, 2024. Just the year 2024. Is that a mistake? No. No, and I'll explain why. Okay. Yeah. This is the year 2024. They return memorial justice assistant. Do I have a motion? [Commissioner (steering committee member): 2nd.] So, why is it to the other? It's not a typo. [17:22] Commissioner: So, like, we've talked about around grants before. So 1st, item is. We haven't talked about this grant in many, years. This is literally decades long. What this grant is, it's based off of our crime statistics and our portion of federal funding around those crime statistics. So, because certain statistics don't get reported for a year to 2 years after the year completes, that's why it's a 2024. So, the money is from that period, but we're able to still use it now. In that regard, so, like I said, this is based on crime statistics and there are so through justice assistance, which is not part of the, you know, most of the grants we want to look at, or the H. S. But I'm talking with Jerry that was appropriate to bring every grant to you folks at least regular basis maybe not every year but every few years remind you of them so this grant in particular is intended to help fund the police departments with different things they may need so things we've done in the past the laptops more mobile data terminals those things so it's money that is allocated based on our statistics, if you read through the background, some of the police departments get such a small portion. They choose not to do anything with it because it is cost more to administer it. And it is worth using. So, what they do is they're allowed to then give their allocation to 1 of the agencies. We've done that several times over the years to allow, I think, 1 year, we did Rockland. so they can get a bigger purchase by allocating everybody's money to do that so this year i think rockland is getting some of it we're getting some of it so our portion in particular is going to go towards hearing conservation having protection for the ranges which there was a little bit of negotiation with the state on that but they have approved it finally and that's why it's before you folks today is to say that 's what our portion is going to go to there is no match However, there's an obligation that if we do go over, we just need to pay the overage of that expense question. [19:39] Speaker D (unidentified): Are there any conditions that come with it and we've been dealing with. [19:43] Commissioner: Conditions with brands, you know, the condition is, you maintain the equipment and you let them know when it's no longer in use. There's no other obligation beyond that. [19:59] Commissioner (presiding/chair): I have no other questions either. I'll call the vote all those in favor. 3 in favor, none opposed. Thank you. As, you know, we all love grants. It just depends on what, rules we have to observe to accept. And then discussion items. This is, not you, this is, Deeds Operational Clarification. Hello, [20:45] Commissioner (steering committee member): I'm Dr. Deeds. And I thought tonight, this afternoon, I would briefly give an overview of what we do in the Deeds Office. Especially almost a public service type of analogy. There's a lot of talk about deed fraud. And I wanted to briefly address what we do and what's being done to prevent deed fraud. So the Registry of Deeds is responsible for recording and preserving land records for Knox County. We follow Maine statute when a document is presented for recording. With the payment of the recording fees, the documents that meet the required legal criteria public record. We do not put documents on record that do not meet the statutory requirements. So if it doesn't follow the law or not taking the money, it's something on record. Having said that, once the document comes to us, the process that it's already been through, so a little bit about realtors, attorneys, they're helping prevent and there's a lot of extra attention being made to that process when something's presented as a sale so realtors and attorneys are helping to prevent deed fraud by verifying the identity of their clients so what they're watching for is quick sales below market value someone that doesn't want to meet a person someone that you know that is trying to bypass normal standards of doing transaction so the realtors and the attorneys are going to cross reference with the public property records and then notaries are also verifying that people are they say that they are basically once it's gone through this it comes to us we're not verifying attorneys procedures realtors we're looking for the statute requirements for us to put something on record so having said that I we get a lot of calls people are absolutely concerned there's a lot of TV commercials about protecting your property and whatnot. Knox County offers a free broad alert service. So a lot of what you see on TV is offering the same type of service, but they're getting either a monthly fee from you or some kind of yearly subscription, and they aren't able to do anything more than what our service profits the public. I haven't seen any deed fraud. Been doing it for 26 years, so I don't think it's as common as people think, but of course it is put in the spotlight when it does happen. Usually it's involving vacant land with no mortgages attached, with that type of thing. So is fraud a problem? Yes, obviously, and there's all types of fraud, right? So some of what we offer people calling that are concerned, we have some tips, like how can you prevent fraud. So be strict with your personal mail, your utility bills, shred sensitive documents, and monitor what's on record, you know, put in your name, see what's been reported. I also advise people not to give out any financial information, addresses, property or loan information online. Absolutely don't put in your credit card, put in your street address. None of our records come up under your street address. Find a lot of times people type in, you know, they get sent to a website that wants their credit card maybe and charge $40 to get a copy of indeed that they can get for free. So anything that looks suspicious, just don't do it. So having said that, our website you can get 400 free copies, you can sign up for proof fraud alert, and I just kind of wanted to put it out there that everyone's being really conscientious about looking over documents, realtors, notaries, attorneys, you know, everyone's doing their due diligence to make sure that it doesn't happen. [25:26] Speaker D (unidentified): That's all I kind of wanted to touch on. Nice question. Sure. Obviously we're doing very well in Knox County. Are you aware if there's been any fraud elsewhere in the state? The one that I heard [25:40] Commissioner (steering committee member): of that involved in what's being planned, I think that there was one in York County. Now what's being and addressed as more, what do we do as a process once it has happened and you know it's fraudulent? Right now it goes through a court system, you know, that probably they could work on making that not such a process in a lengthy process once it's identified as a fraudulent. But in that case it was found that it was fraudulent, and unfortunately, like the money had been wired overseas. [26:23] Speaker D (unidentified): You know, it gets very complicated. It's good to know that we don't have the problem, and it's being looked for in Knox County, because those TV commercials and where we see those commercials, you know, it's obviously somebody found a way to make some money just providing a service that is not necessary, but people will do that. So it's good to know that we don't need to do that, right? [26:53] Commissioner (steering committee member): They're offering subscription saying that they'll monitor your property. So what they're doing is what anyone can do. The records are all public. You go in, you look to see what's recorded under your name. With the fraud alert that we offer, you'll get an email alert if there's a document recording with your name on it, so at least you're aware. How do people sign up for fraud alert? It's right on, there's a link to the main registry of deeds dot-com website, and once you're on that initial page, if you scroll below the state of Maine map, there's a list of all the counties, and all the counties have a link to their specific fraud alert. Some great news to get out to people. That's why she's here. Yeah, we're not just taking something, taking the money and putting it on record if you make sure it meets legal requirements on. And I just wanted to, because I am in contact with a lot of the villagers and the attorneys, and I know that everyone's doing their due diligence to make sure that it doesn't happen. Well, if the folks at the villager or Sun Bay Pilot are listening, hopefully they'll reach out to you to cover this a little more in depth in an article in the local paper. But I think it would be great to, yeah, to have a focus on that. Yeah, we certainly receive people come in person, but we take a lot of calls also. [28:36] Commissioner (presiding/chair): Question about it in the process. If somebody sells or doesn't sell a piece of property, but it's sold out from under them in some kind of, unless it goes through your office and is correctly recorded, it's not a sale. [28:51] Commissioner (steering committee member): Well, not necessarily. I think that over the years there's been deeds that haven't been put on record that show up later through a state or something like that. I'm not sure legally. I wouldn't think that would really matter if you had a deed and by chance it didn't get put on record, it's probably still a deed so [29:23] Commissioner (presiding/chair): fraud, that kind of a real estate fraud could happen even if it wasn't through [29:28] Commissioner (steering committee member): your office or around your office just like with any other type of fraud I'm assuming if someone you know thought they were buying a car thought only paperwork but i think that with what we have currently in place that it's it's much harder for it to happen than what someone would think you know it's not just writing something bringing it up and putting and on record and suddenly they own a hundred acres somewhere i was thinking about buying [30:11] Commissioner (presiding/chair): the Brooklyn Bridge. It's just in terms of somebody could sell me something, and that's a fraud, [30:18] Commissioner (steering committee member): but I don't really own the bridge, right? Well, I've all been the way I explain it too, that you brought a deed into me, and you said that it was 50 acres, and it was only five. Just because you put it on records stating that it was 50. Acres, so it just proves that, right? A future. Title abstract or attorney and discover that. The law wasn't 50, so just because it's on record, technically, it could be an error. [30:57] Speaker D (unidentified): So, does this mean that the pleasure on the Brooklyn Bridge, I didn't have to pay for it? Like, I thought I. [31:05] Commissioner (presiding/chair): You know, it's going to worry about because of the automatics and you got the easy gas, right? [31:19] Speaker D (unidentified): Thank you, thank you, turn [31:28] Commissioner (presiding/chair): back to the sheriff. Is there anything else to come before the commission? Anyone else have anything they would like to bring before us before we adjourn? We will then adjourn and reconvene at five o'clock for a budget meeting. I will accept the motion to adjourn. We move and second it. Any other discussion? All those in favor