Clinton County community corrections approves $40 drug-test fee, discusses Sycamore Street lease and new training

Community Corrections Director said Clinton County Community Corrections will add a $40 charge for clients who cannot produce a drug-test sample and discussed plans to lease a building on Sycamore Street as the program seeks new space.

The change to the drug-testing policy was approved by voice vote at the meeting. The director said the $40 charge is intended to prevent clients from repeatedly claiming they cannot produce a sample after staff began using a new vendor, Abra Health, that charges even when no sample is produced. "If you go to try to produce a sample and you cannot produce, we're gonna just add tack that onto your fees," the Community Corrections Director said.

The action follows the director's operational report that the program was supervising 92 clients that morning, including two juveniles and four people on CTP; it had completed 53 intakes to date and had five intakes where clients requested jail time instead of community corrections. The director reported project income of $631,681.04. Several collections figures mentioned in the meeting were unclear on the record and are not specified in this report.

The director said staff have begun the process of securing a new building located on Sycamore Street between Old Stoney and a Napa business. The director said they had taken the lease agreement to Tom Little for review and expected to ask the county commissioners and city council to approve a right-of-first-refusal clause because the current owner is ill and the property's future is uncertain. "We're happy with it. There's one thing we do wanna add probably is a right of first refusal," the director said.

Staff described planned interior modifications if the lease proceeds, including dividing the front lobby into offices, removing a small kitchen alcove to create space for parole meetings and addressing bathroom carpeting. The director said the Sycamore Street location would have about eight dedicated parking spaces plus three parallel spots across the street, but noted the street is one-way and that the program would ask the city council to consider changing that if the lease moves forward.

The director reported staff completed training on nidazine, an emerging stimulant described in the meeting as "more powerful than fentanyl," and said two staff members already have authority to inspect client prescription records. The director also summarized state legislation the program is monitoring: Senate Bill 296 and House Bill 1224 (proposals described in the meeting as affecting driving privileges for undocumented residents), Senate Bill 386 (establishing a commissary for community corrections), House Bill 1566 (described as relating to billing for pretrial release participants) and Senate Bill 324 (which the director said would require some defendants charged with domestic violence to wear GPS monitors while out on bond). The director said the program is watching those bills for possible operational impacts.

The director noted an upcoming grant deadline on April 11 and asked the membership to set the next meeting date; the group chose April 3. The director also requested approval of the JERAC report, which the director said had been completed with assistance from Laura Archibald of Healthy Communities; the membership approved the report by voice vote.

Other business recorded included a brief discussion about clients supervised who live outside Clinton County and the transfer practices of neighboring counties. Staff said transfer and supervision decisions vary by county and can be affected by factors such as required employment, sentence length and higher fees in other jurisdictions. The director said many of those surrounding counties impose minimum sentence-length thresholds for supervision transfers.

The meeting adjourned after a motion and second; lunch followed the session.