Jenni Dye has amendments for Health and Human Needs tonight, I expect that the same amendments might be attempted at Personnel and Finance as well. Thank you Jenni! I hope this proposal to amend passes!
Fellow HHN members:
I wanted to let you know in advance that I intend to move an amendment to the substitute amendment to Res 556 this evening. The same amendment will be moved at PP&J, in the hopes of keeping our committees working in the same direction. The language of the amendment is below my signature line.
I plan to reach out to as many of you today as I am able, but briefly some of my goals in moving it are 1) ensure that when we engage in any long term planning for the criminal justice system, it is with the complete set of recommendations we will receive from the proposed workgroups; 2) we make it clear that we value the work of the proposed workgroups by waiting for their recommendations before engaging in a long term planning process. 3) We ensure that immediate health and safety needs, such as lock repairs and PREA compliance, are addressed and fixed in the short term. While I believe the substitute amendment improves on the resolution as it was originally introduced, I believe we can achieve better outcomes with this additional proposed change.
The amendment is not intended to say we will never engage in long term planning in the future, but rather delay consideration of that planning and determining the scope of the long term planning until AFTER we receive the work group recommendations so that we can give them the weight they deserve.
I am hopeful that you will join me in supporting these changes. If you have questions, please feel free to call or email me today. I have a meeting with the City of Fitchburg at 11, but should otherwise be fairly available to talk with you.
Note: please do not reply all to this message, as doing so would be a violation of the open meetings law.
Best,
Jenni Dye
Dane County Supervisor, District 33
608-492-2454Proposed amendment:
Amendment to Proposed Sub of Resolution 556
1) Add new paragraph at line 270.
“Mead and Hunt shall also recommend immediate solutions to bring all of our jail facilities into compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards to ensure the safe care and custody of youthful offenders. “2) Add at the end of line 280:
“ Upon receiving these long-term recommendations from the workgroups, the county board shall consider whether to retain a consultant to develop and implement long-term proposals from the workgroups, with the goals of reducing our jail population, improving facilities, and addressing the needs of inmates.”3) Delete lines 296 to lines 315
This is getting support from some of the most ardent and critical advocates on the jail, with some concerns . . . but this is a big step in the right direction.
