Council Schedule Highlights Week of January 28th, 2019

As the Council gets into full swing with our first retreat day, I’ll also be busy in Olympia. The session is still taking shape but county issues continue to dominate the agenda such as behavioral health and housing.

Monday, JANUARY 28th, 2019

1:30pm Public Safety, Human Services, and Budget

Jim McCune, Chair
Pam Roach, Vice Chair
Connie Ladenburg
Dave Morell
Derek Young

This meeting will be broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and on channel 20 (Rainier Connect) Electronic meeting material can be accessed at http://www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees. Video archives are available at www.piercecountytv.org.

Drug Assistance Reduction Team
Presenter: Judge Claire Sussman, District Court Judge

Late last year I was able to attend a meeting with DART stakeholders to share the results of the two year old effort. The results were impressive and I think everyone, from the judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, and probation officers agreed it was a smashing success.

Judge Maggie Ross, who had led the effort since its reception, retired at the end of the year. Judge Claire Sussman has taken her place and will lead DART’s presentation to the committee.

Pierce County District Court describes the DART program this way:

“Pierce County District Court Drug Addiction Reduction Team (DART) Court began in November 2016 after careful collaboration with county stakeholders to combat the opioid epidemic. The DART Court emerged to combat the opioid epidemic initially but the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) supports the initiative because research proves utilizing evidence-based practices to change behavior is more cost efficient and has better success rates at reducing recidivism than incarceration.

As of October 2018, DART has a 72.5% success rate for ALL participants going through the program sustaining law abiding behavior.”

The idea is to provide an incentive for those individuals who have been charged with a felony where a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is the underlying cause of their criminal behavior. To be eligible the defendant must:

• Have limited criminal history
• Amenability to treatment
• Attend scheduled court reviews
• Appear at all court hearings
• Be honest
• Attend probation appointments and comply with the terms of supervision
• Complete a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow all recommendations made by their selected treatment provider
• Participate in prosocial activities including but not limited to employment, community service or community events

Tuesday, JANUARY 15th, 2019

9:00am Special Meeting Human Services Committee Retreat

Location: Environmental Services Building
9850 64th St. W, University Place, Washington.

Connie Ladenburg, Chair
Marty Campbell, Vice Chair
Douglas G. Richardson
Dave Morell
Derek Young

This meeting will be broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and on channel 20 (Rainier Connect) Electronic meeting material can be accessed at http://www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees Video archives are available at www.piercecountytv.org.

Human Services Strategic Planning Retreat
Presenter: Cindan Gizzi, MPH, Director, Public Health Centers for Excellence, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department

We’re doing our Council Retreat a little differently this year. The plan was for three days of work, but unfortunately our collective schedules didn’t permit a solid block of them. Instead we will base them around committees which will replace a normal committee hearing day.

First up is the newest standing committee, Human Services. You may recall that it used to be combined with the Public Safety committee. We found this gave short shrift to Human Services side despite the many overlaps. The spinoff began with Councilmember Ladenburg (a former social worker) leading a ad hoc committee, then last year a select committee. Now it’s a fully formed standing committee with a dedicated research analyst.

The Human Services Committee will consider and make recommendations on matters including, but not limited to:

• Behavioral Health
• Budget
• Budget Goals and Proviso Compliance
• Children, Youth, and Their Families
• Community Services
• Homelessness
• Human Services
• Prevention Services
• Senior Services.

My Weekly Calendar

A couple years ago we got a request for my forward looking calendar. Rather than have staff waste their time on public record requests, I decided to publish screenshots. If you have questions, feel free to call. Keep in mind, my schedule isn’t static. Things will get added, deleted, changed, etc. There are conflicts that I have to pick between. But if people want to see where I’m at and who I meet with, that’s fine by me.