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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStudy Notes 12-04-2017STUDY SESSION NOTES CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO City Council Chambers 7500 W. 29th Avenue December 4, 2017 Mayor Starker called the Study Session to order at 6:30 p.m. Council members present: George Pond, Janeece Hoppe, Kristi Davis, Monica Duran, Tim Fitzgerald, Zachary Urban, Larry Mathews, Leah Dozeman Absent: Kristi Davis (excused) Also present: City Clerk, Janelle Shaver; City Manager, Patrick Goff; Division Chief Pickett; other staff, guests and interested citizens. CITIZEN COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS none Mayor Starker elected to move Item 1. Staff Reports to the end of the agenda. 2. Family Justice Center Presentation Dave Pickett, Division Chief for Support Services, introduced Assistant District Attorney Michael Dougherty and Deputy District Attorney Candace Cooledge. Michael Dougherty began with remarks about homicide cases stemming from domestic violence (DV), the increase in DV cases, the inability to successfully prosecute some cases, and the need for intervention. They want to do a better job. A Family Justice Center (FJC) would be a community project that will better serve the victims, lead to more successful prosecutions, and likely lead to a decrease in DV. Candace Cooledge is heading up this project full time. • She went through some steps a DV victim goes through -including medical treatment at a hospital, the possibility of a protection order at the Courthouse, possible counseling through Jeffco Mental Health, getting financial assistance from Human Services, legal guidance from the legal aid clinic, follow up with law enforcement, meeting with the District Attorney's office, and possibly a forensic interview with her children at Ralston House. • The County has good services, but it all takes a great amount of time for the victim and can be a financial burden as well. • These same services are also needed by victims of sexual abuse and elder abuse. • She elaborated on statistics for DV and the impact of DV to children. Children who grow up with domestic violence are much more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol, commit suicide, commit a violent crime or repeat the cycle in adulthood. • A FJC is a model approved by the US Justice Department as a best practice. There are about 130 FJCs around the nation. She went through some statistics showing very good results from these centers in decreasing the incidents of DV. STUDY SESSION NOTES: December 4, 2017 Page -2- • A FJC would locate all the various agencies and services in one location for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, human trafficking, crimes against children, and other forms of violence. • It would make things much easier for the victims. • It would enable collaboration of agencies to help the victim. • It does not require a criminal case. • It would be designed to not look like a government setting. • The Family Justice Center Alliance (FJCA), based in California where the first FJC started in 2002, helps other communities tailor their Center to the needs of their community. When they came in July to learn about our county they remarked how well our agencies work together. On January 17-18 they will return to do some strategic planning with the County. Council is invited to come to that. • 50 partners have already been identified so far. They include schools, hospitals, government departments, law enforcement, Seniors' Resource Center, Ralston House, JCMH, and Family Tree, among others. Please refer any services in Wheat Ridge that would help this effort. Council questions • Proposed location? There is no money, no land and no building, but they are looking. Closer to the Courthouse would be convenient for the agencies and for victims to interface with some of the services (e.g. getting a protection order at the courthouse). • What will the FJC look like logistically to be able to provide various services? Those issues will be addressed during strategic planning. The session with FJCA in January will produce a business plan with goals and objectives. • The Center should not be in Golden because bus service to Golden is not good. • Why aren't the commissioners listed as partners? The Commissioners are in support. • What is the structure of the organization? The Executive Committee makes policy decisions; the Steering Committee are boots on the ground; under the Steering Committee are four work groups (governance and finance, service and delivery, community outreach, and funding and sustainability). • Are there efforts to work with Workforce? Yes. Resume building will be an element. Suggest outreach to employers so victims don't lose their jobs. • Metrics to measure success? Working with the University of Denver Research Department on metrics (they helped the Denver center) and they're helping us find funding. • What do you want from Wheat Ridge? Support, and references to any services or areas of expertise that would help the project (Funding? Location? Donations of office equipment or furniture?). The guests were thanked for their presentation and asked to keep the Council updated. 3. Cultural Vision -Cultural Commission -Diane Robb Diane Robb, Chair of the Cultural Commission, had the commission member who were present introduce themselves: Carol Mathews, District 4; Sandra Vance, District 4; Gay Porter DeNileon, At-large; Gerith Gronski, District 3; Dave Opp, District 3. STUDY SESSION NOTES: December 4, 2017 Page -3- Diane Robb gave a brief introduction on the Cultural Vision for the City that the Cultural Commission has developed. (The actual document was in the Council packet.) She added: • It is a working document; no approval is needed at this time. • Their goal is not to dictate type or style, but to facilitate and encourage. • The first Action Steps will be to share the vision with the community. They will work with the City staff to create a marketing campaign -to include brochures and other marketing materials to share with all parties. • The Cultural Commission will share progress with the Council as time goes on. Ms. Robb fielded questions and comments from the Council. • They want everyone to think about arts and culture with each project the City does. A brochure for developers would not dictate anything, but would inform the developer that Wheat Ridge believes in and encourages arts and culture. • What will the online resource network look like? Although that is just in the planning stages, they would like a stronger presence on the City website. It's kind of buried right now. • Mr. Goff explained there is no requirement for developers to contribute to art. A portion of their fees is placed into the Public Art Fund. City and State projects also contribute 1 % to the Public Art Fund. Per policy, when a City project is done, 1 % of the budget is spent on art. • Art on Loan Program is used in many cities. They invite artists to loan and display a piece of art for a period of time. Effort are made to sell the piece(s), or collect money from people for their favorite piece(s). It is a fund raising tool. That would be a ways off for us; we'd need to raise money for this first. • If a private business wants to place art, that's their business. We want to encourage businesses to do this; it increases value of the property and the area. Want to be a resource for them. • Any working relationships with art groups in the city, county, colleges? Yes, they are reaching out to many arts organizations; they are watching and learning. The last few years things are starting to come together for the Cultural Commission. We have more ideas than we can implement. They feel like they are at the ground level and it is starting to snowball. • What about metrics to see if we are growing --with artists and the number of pieces sold, to measure revenue generation? As the Cultural Commission becomes more relevant, the more aware we are of artists in the community. We have a huge base of professional artists in WR that support their family through art. Metrics are on the to- do list. Councilmember Urban noted that the National Center for the Arts has an Arts Vibrancy Index that has metrics. 4. Withdrawal Management Services -MOU Mr. Goff gave Council background for the Memorandum of Understanding. • With the closure of Arapahoe House the cities in Jefferson County pursued a way to provide detoxification services. STUDY SESSION NOTES: December 4, 2017 Page -4- • Jefferson Center for Mental Health (JCMH) agreed to provide these services at the former Arapahoe House facility located at 4643 Wadsworth Boulevard in Wheat Ridge. • JCMH officially took over these services from Arapahoe House at the end of June 2017 and recently purchased the property. • Second floor remodeling is underway to allow for additional integrated services. • The MOU under consideration for approval establishes the funding obligations of the local government members and the powers and obligations of JCMH. • JCMH needs % million dollars subsidy annually. Wheat Ridge's share for 2018 will be $30, 100, with future payments increased annually by the percentage of growth shown in the Denver-Boulder-Greeley consumer price index. • The 2018 budget includes the necessary funding for 2018. • The MOU is effective January1. Would like this approved next Monday. During discussion the following topics were addressed. • Nothing was cut to provide this service in our budget. • The MOU contains reporting requirements. • How often is a crime involved? We don't have that information; may have better data in the future. • Discussion about the possibility of recovering costs through adjudication. • With no jail, we have few options. Transportation to the county jail is cumbersome and expensive. We can't put someone in jail for being drunk; a detox facility is equipped to handle these folks -better than a hospital and better than the jail. • This facility provides only short term detox -no long term rehab. JCMH has other facilities for that. • JCMH will also get $1.2M from the state, plus Medicare and Medicaid payments from some, and out-of-pocket payments. As a non-profit they have more resources than Arapahoe House did, so that may help them be sustainable. • There are lobbying efforts underway at the state to get more funding -since this service was state mandated in the 1970's. • It is an impact, to Wheat Ridge, but it's not new. Clients can be taken to jail if they are violent or unmanageable. • Security will remain appropriate. There weren't many issues with Arapahoe House. • Lutheran Hospital has a stake in this too. • Would like to see a discharge plan so not all clients are released into Wheat Ridge. Councilmember Fitzgerald received unanimous consent to bring the MOU forward on Monday and pay the bill. 1 . Staff Report( s) National League of Cities Mr. Goff reminded councilmembers of the National League of Cities conference in March. Three persons are budgeted to attend, and personal outreach funds can be used of necessary. It provides an opportunity to meet with our Congressional delegation. Contact Janice soon if you are interested. STUDY SESSION NOTES: December 4, 2017 Page -5- Council Retreat? Mr. Goff posed the question of having another retreat. Lengthy discussion followed. Councilmember Hoppe asked for consensus to organize and prioritize the action items from the last retreat in an informal off-site setting, and then to have a new facilitator and a new retreat process sometime in the first quarter of 2018. Following more discussion there was consensus to use a couple of study sessions to discuss the information from the last retreat, and following that schedule a new retreat. 5. Elected Officials' Reports Janeece Hoppe The WR Business District will be meeting this week. There have been some applications for extended fa9ade grants. -She asked if there could be council district pages on the city website where councilors could post things. Mr. Goff said that would be possible. Leah Dozeman reported on her participation in the Futures Conference on Reimagining Wheat Ridge Area Schools. Five committees were created to work on a common vision for WR area schools and how to collaborate, strengthen our schools, and get students to go to WRHS. She also reported participating in a meeting at Pennington school last week. The District is proposing the school become an expeditionary learning program. More information will be coming on what that is. -She announced that she and Larry Mathews would be having a Meet & Greet on Tuesday, December 12 at 6:30pm at Pietra's Pizza, 44th & Field. Constituents are invited to come discuss issues. Mayor Starker asked if Ms. Dozeman and Ms. Hoppe would like to serve in the positions of liaison to the Jefferson County School Board. They agreed. Ms. Hoppe agreed to serve on the Applewood Business District. Clerk Janelle Shaver reminded the folks who ran for office that their 2nd financial reports are due December 7. Mayor Starker thanked everyone who contributed and participated in the Holiday Lighting event. It was a great success. ADJOURNMENT The Study Session adjourned at 8:19 p.m. NCIL ON January 8, 2018