Ward Byers Director of Community Corrections and Judge Dean Colvin Chairman of the Community Corrections Advisory Council discussed what they want to see happen with the office after their lease is up in the Community Resource Center during their meeting Thursday.
Judge Colvin asked if the county has the best technology available for servicing clients being put in the program. Byers said they are using the latest technology available through Total Court Services. He also said there is some beta testing happening on new GPS monitoring devices and Marshall County is on the list to be one of the Beta test counties when it is time.
Byers did say there is something the county could be working on and said, “it’s more in the collaboration piece with working with everything and everybody. He went on to say, “This county being fragmented as far as where things and places are. At some point is would be nice if the county would step up and put together a facility that Probation and Community Corrections could be in for a one-stop-shop type of facility where our clients don’t get lost going from building to building and building to building blocks away.”
Judge Colvin said the 5-year lease expenses in the Community Resource Center are costly and Byers said, $20,000 a year and the county won’t pay any of it.
Colvin said instead of waiting until the last minute to decide what will happen to Community Corrections when the lease is up, he wanted to begin that process now. He suggested putting a committee together to investigate and explore where they will house Community Corrections after the lease is done. He also threw out the idea of a residential facility attached to the building.
Byers said, “There’s a million plus going upstairs (indicating the clocktower project). They’ve got the money. They just choose not to spend it on Community Corrections which is very frustrating to me.”
Judge Colvin suggested creating a committee to specifically begin investigating where they will relocate Community Corrections after the lease and look at the reasons a purpose for possibly consolidating services in closer proximity to each other.
County Council representative Tim Harman said, “I’m all for exploring options.”
Colvin asked for a commit member to step up and chair the committee to look for a location and the advantages of consolidating services into one location.
Judge Matt Sarber said he would serve as chairman. Other members who volunteered include taxpayer representative Sam Schlosser, County Council President Tim Harman, Jim Bendy from Probation, Mayor Mark Senter and Lindi McKuras from the Bowen Center.
