DATE: November 5, 2024
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer
SUBJECT: Retroactive Agreement with the City of Selma to participate in the Public Safety Realignment Adult Compliance Team
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Agreement with the City of Selma to assign a sworn Police Officer to the Public Safety Realignment Adult Compliance Team, effective July 1, 2024 not to exceed five consecutive years, which include a three-year base and two automatic one-year extensions, with the first year not to exceed $189,938.
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action, which will approve a retroactive agreement with the City of Selma to continue to provide one sworn Police Officer to participate as a member of the Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109) Adult Compliance Team (ACT), as authorized by the approved Community Corrections Partnership Plan. This Agreement is a five-year term, which requires an annual budget approval from the CCP executive committee to ensure ongoing funds. Therefore, an item will be brought to your Board each year for final approval to ensure the necessary funds are allocated. Although the recommended agreement is with the City of Selma, which is in District Four, this item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended action is not approved, the ACT would not include a Police Officer from the City of Selma.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The recommended agreement before your Board is retroactive, due to waiting for the Board’s approval of the County’s fiscal year 2024-25 budget to ensure the availability of funds, and the length of time required to prepare the recommended agreement, have it reviewed and approved by the City of Selma. The recommended agreement was signed by the City of Selma in October of 2024 and is being brought before your Board on the first available Board date within the agenda item processing deadlines.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The cost of $189,938 for the recommended agreement is funded with Assembly Bill 109 funds received from the State of California. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues for these services are included in Probation’s FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget for Org 3430. There are no pending invoices for the recommended agreement.
DISCUSSION:
Assembly Bill 109 was signed into law on April 5, 2011 and went into effect on October 1, 2011. Assembly Bill 109 transferred responsibility for housing/supervising of specific inmates and parolees from the California Department of Corrections to counties. In accordance with Assembly Bill 109/Assembly Bill 117, the County created a CCP Executive Committee, and developed an implementation plan that will enable the County to meet the goals of the Public Safety Realignment Act. The CCP Executive Committee (voting members) in Fresno County consists of seven members: The Chief Probation Officer (chair), the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court or designee, the District Attorney, the Sheriff, the Public Defender, the Director of Behavioral Health, and a Chief of Police. This implementation plan was approved by the CCP on August 19, 2011 and approved by the Board September 13, 2011. The CCP Executive Committee and the Board have approved nine updates to the CCP Plan since it was initially approved. The ACT was included in the original CCP Plan, and updates have included expansions of the ACT.
The ACT is currently comprised of sworn officers from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department; the Fresno Police Department, which also includes a Crime Analyst; the Clovis Police Department, which includes a Crime Specialist; the Selma Police Department; the Reedley Police Department; the Kerman Police Department; the Kingsburg Police Department; the city of Sanger; the Fresno County Probation Department; and two Investigators from the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. The purpose of ACT is to add an additional layer of offender supervision and public safety, by working as a cooperative unit capable of addressing public safety concerns and issues facing local law enforcement in Fresno County. The ACT team enforces conditions of probation, conducts compliance and non-compliance searches of Assembly Bill 109 probationers who are under the supervision of the Fresno County Probation Department, and provides immediate response to crisis situations. In addition, ACT can provide surveillance and warrant sweeps in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies.
In accordance with the approved CCP Plan, the ACT has included a police officer from the City of Selma since 2016. On November 7, 2023, the Board approved the most recent Agreement with the City of Selma. The recommended action will approve an agreement with the City of Selma to continue to provide one sworn officer to the ACT. The recommended agreement identifies responsibilities and obligations of the City of Selma and the County in operation of the ACT and allows for reimbursement of the costs of an ACT officer with Assembly Bill 109 funds.
ACT agreements are typically one-year terms, beginning on July 1st and ending on June 30th. However, due to the annual budget requiring approval by the CCP Executive Committee and your Board, this process often resulted in a lapse of coverage due to budget hearings occurring in mid-September. To address this issue and ensure uninterrupted services, the CCP Executive Committee approved the 5-year ACT template at the June 10, 2024 CCP meeting. The recommended agreement will allow for annual budget approvals without disrupting the services provided.
On August 8, 2024, the Board authorized and ratified the execution of the current Operating Agreement, which is included in the ACT agreements as Exhibit A. The Operating Agreement identifies the responsibilities and obligations of the signing parties in operation of the ACT, and is intended to be a binding agreement, with indemnification provisions to protect all signing parties.
The recommended agreement differs from the County’s model contract in that it contains a mutual hold harmless clause. This has the effect of making each party responsible for losses arising from their own negligent or wrongful performance, or failure to perform. This is typical in agreements between public entities. The mutual hold harmless clause has been reviewed by Risk Management and department staff and deemed to be acceptable for this recommended agreement between public entities.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #49, August 8, 2024
BAI #55, November 7, 2023
BAI #8, September 13, 2011
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Retroactive Agreement with the City of Selma
CAO ANALYST:
Fine Nai