Teen Court coordinator asks commission to appoint fiscal agent; action deferred to next meeting

Tierra Mead, the Teen Court coordinator, updated the Hampshire County Commission on the program’s administrative status and asked the board to appoint a fiscal agent and authorize an administrative order so Teen Court can begin hearing cases in the county.

Mead said the ERFRN (the prior fiscal agent arrangement) dissolved and that once Teen Court becomes the county’s program, fees collected under Teen Court remain the county’s funds. She told commissioners that an administrative order prepared by Judge Carl had not been filed because of clerical confusion and that she would prepare a rewritten administrative order removing references to the dissolved fiscal agent.

Mead asked the commission to name a fiscal agent (the county clerk, a nonprofit, or another designated entity) so she could include the name in the administrative order and obtain the judge’s signature. Prosecutor Miller said the program benefited juveniles at the high school and supported the program remaining in Hampshire County; the prosecutor suggested leaving the county clerk as fiscal agent if appropriate.

Commissioners agreed they were not comfortable acting without the administrative-order template in hand. The chair and clerk said they would place the administrative order and the fiscal-agent appointment on the next meeting agenda for formal action; in the meantime Mead may proceed with recruiting but Teen Court will not hear cases until the order is filed.

No formal appointment or order was adopted at the Jan. 28 meeting; the matter was deferred to a future meeting after Mead provides the administrative-template language for review.