CALLED

Finance Committee Meeting Minutes

FY06 Budget Presentations

Glynn County Board of Commissioners

9:00 P.M., Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Third Floor Conference Room

W. Harold Pate Courthouse Annex

Brunswick, Georgia

 

Present:

                        Committee Members:  H. Lynn, U. Keller, and T. Thaw

Other Commissioners:  C. Johnson

Staff:  T. Barton, W. Bennett, D. Chunn, M. Doering, P. McNicoll, B. Rowell, C. Stewart, S. Trautz

Press:  

Others:   

 

 

1)      FY06 Personnel recommendations by the Budget Team. 

 

Ms. Becky Rowell, Assistant County Administrator, informed the Committee that the Personnel recommendations by the Budget Team would be discussed later.  She stated that the Committee would not be asked to approve those positions. 

 

2)      Departmental presentations:

 

a)   Sheriff’s Office

     Sheriff Wayne Bennett discussed his need to increase the staff at the Sheriff’s Office.  He stated that he would need either four additional deputies or two additional deputies plus increased overtime budget in the coming year.  The Sheriff informed the Committee that there had been no increase in deputies since 1996 and the workload had increased due to the following:

·         Increased prisoner transports

·         Number of deputies required during Drug Court

·         Prospect of five death penalty cases in the next fiscal year

 

The Sheriff stated that the jail population was up to 390 prisoners and the aging population in the jail has resulted in increased health problems.  He said that the Detention staff should be increased also but that he wanted to wait and see if the new Public Defender would be able to decrease the population.  If the population goes down he will not need to increase the Detention staff.  Six to eight new Detention officers will be needed if the population stays at 380-390 per day.

 

Commissioner Thaw questioned how they were managing now with the increased population and Sheriff Bennett responded that schedules have been adjusted and compensatory time accrued.

 

There was discussion concerning the effect of the Drug Court program on the jail, the problem in turnaround on drug tests, and the possibility of using ankle bracelets in order to release prisoners earlier.

 

Commissioner Johnson asked how many City prisoners remain in jail and the Sheriff responded that there were very few because he releases them quickly.  The Sheriff also pointed out that there are no boarding charges to the City for City prisoners that are in jail on state charges.

 

Sheriff Bennett ended his presentation by saying that he will work with Ms. Phyllis McNicoll, Finance Director, to determine if it will be more cost-efficient to increase deputies by 4 or by 2 and incur additional overtime.

 

b)   Magistrate Court

Judge Tim Barton, Magistrate Judge, began his presentation by saying that the Assistant Magistrates do not work for him but that they are appointed by the Superior Court Judge.  He said that he had talked to Judge Tuten about his request and Judge Tuten had agreed with him and would send a letter to the Commissioners.  Judge Barton requested a Part-time Secretary, a Part-time Judge, and pay increases for the Part-time Judges.

 

Commissioner Lynn requested a comparison of revenues since the year prior to Judge Barton taking office.

 

c)   Police Department

Chief Matt Doering, Police Chief, gave a presentation on the current activity in the Police Department and how the Department and County have changed in the past few years. Chief Doering informed the Committee that there had been no increase in Patrol Officers since 1998, no increase in Detectives since 1994, and that it had been over 20 years since the number of Drug Investigators had been increased.  He stated that demands for police services had increased due to the following:

 

·      Population increases

·         Increases in development

·         Tourism

 

As a result of the, Chief Doering requested the addition of eight Police Officers, the reclassification of one Police Officer II to Detective I and one Police Officer II to Investigator I.  Commissioner Johnson questioned whether the reclassifications would remove officers from the street and Chief Doering stated that it would not.

 

Commissioner Johnson requested that Chief Doering present options to increase the efficiency of the Police Department and recommend changes for better utilization of certified officers.

 

No action was taken at this meeting.