Task force views law system fund
From our weekly issue dated March 19, 2008
The Josephine County Long-Term Public Safety Funding Task Force continued its efforts during its weekly meeting on Wednesday, March 12 in Grants Pass to identify possible funding sources for the public safety departments.
It was the second task force meeting. And, like the first, it was used to educate board members about the issues faced by each of the public safety departments: the sheriff’s office, Juvenile Justice, county jail, and the district attorney’s office.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson began the meeting by reading a short statement. He stated that the presentation provided by his office was intended to be for the purpose of educating the members and not an effort to try to guide or control their conclusions.
Click here to learn more about how you can tell us what you think
“It is the job of the community, here in Josephine County, to determine what they need or choose to pay -- it is not the sheriff’s job to tell them they need to pay more,” said Gilbertson.
Last week, Gilbertson provided the task force with a presentation on the idea of setting up “two service districts.” He emphasized in his statement that his presentation was provided “in the spirit of ‘here is another tool for the toolbox,’ not a request to see things my way.” The idea of setting up two service districts is copied from a model used successfully in other Oregon counties.
“I simply wanted to make the task force aware of strategies that have worked successfully for other Oregon counties,” said the sheriff.
During presentations provided by Janine Wilson, manager of the Juvenile Justice Dept.; and Steve Campbell, county district attorney, the 11 task force members at the meeting became aware of a dilemma that may make their work more daunting than expected. If the sheriff is provided with more staff to patrol and respond to crime in the county, there will be more cases for the D.A. to process and more referrals to Juvenile Justice and an increased demand for the jail.
Funding for the entire system will be needed to make it work properly.
Campbell acknowledged this issue. He told the task force that county residents need to decide on the service level they want from the public safety departments and provide funding necessary for the departments to operate at that level.
The task force will dedicate the remainder of their meetings during this month and early April toward the discussion of ideas to obtain long-range funding for the county’s public safety departments. They have until April 14 to compile their findings into a report for the county commissioners.
All task force meetings are open to the public. They are held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, adjacent to the county courthouse.
Advertisement:
