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Alachua County accepts outside review of court services, orders stakeholder meetings before implementation
Summary
The county commission received a consultantreport recommending a multi-phase reorganization of Court Services and approved staff to pursue a phased implementation plan with further stakeholder engagement and legal review before finalizing any transfers of duties.
The Alachua County Commission on Sept. 23 accepted a consultantreport that recommends reorganizing the countyCourt Services department and ordered staff to hold targeted stakeholder meetings and return later with an implementation plan.
The Board received the 36-page review from the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), which proposed a three-phase, up-to-24-month approach to restructure pretrial, probation and community service functions to reduce overlap and align duties with best practices. CEPP said the countyshould consider moving certain probation and treatment-court responsibilities to court administration as part of a phased realignment.
County staff leader Heather Akpon, assistant county manager for justice and workforce strategies, told the commission the review followed a year of internal assessment and outside study. CEPP consultants Kelvin Banks and Tara Blair told commissioners they had interviewed justice stakeholders, observed first-appearance courts and jail operations, and analyzed workload and statute references to form their recommendations.
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