The Dunn County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council convened and approved its Oct. 8, 2025 minutes before reviewing progress on 2025 goals and setting priorities for 2026. Members highlighted progress on grant-funded programs, coordination gaps identified during budget discussions and the need to plan for expiring grants.

Council staff summarized achievements under Project Hope, a law enforcement deflection and diversion collaboration that added grant-funded caseworkers at the sheriff's office and the city. The group reported opening a therapeutic community pod in the county jail, continuing medication-assisted treatment under a new contractor, and adding peer-support roles to strengthen reentry services. "We were able to hire a caseworker, Lindy Mal Calderon," staff said, noting both caseworkers remain in onboarding and process development.

Why it matters: several funding streams that support these programs will end in 2026. Staff noted the law enforcement deflection caseworker grant and family treatment court grants are scheduled to end in late 2026, prompting early sustainability planning and discussion of potential no-cost extensions and alternate federal funding sources.

Members also discussed process improvements including a mapping exercise for DNA collection and warrant-fee processes and the CJCC's recent assumption of oversight for the Dunn County Crime Prevention Funding Board, with the first award decisions for 2026 expected after the meeting. On governance, staff suggested restoring the judiciary and law chair to quarterly CJCC meetings to address information gaps during budget deliberations; some members cautioned that creating a new advisory committee could trigger open-meetings obligations and recommended framing the work as a goal or informal work group to avoid creating a separate public body.

Sheriff Bigg described some program progress as "fairly successful" and added a personal observation about the opportunities jail programs offer participants: "As we all know, most people that go to jail, find sobriety and find the Lord, and, this is a good opportunity for them to, get sober and stay that way." A member flagged a notable drop in criminal caseloads year-over-year and urged the group to wait for final agency reports to assess causes.

Next steps: staff were asked to refine 2026 goals for approval at the January meeting and to continue sustainability planning for grant-funded positions and services.