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CONTRACT NO. K-1415-19: AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, AND THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA OFFICE OF JUVENILE AFFAIRS (OJA) TO ACCEPT FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $175,200 FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPERATING A COMMUNITY INTERVENTION CENTER.
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BACKGROUND: The City of Norman juvenile program in conjunction with the Crossroads Youth and Family Center, Inc., ("Crossroads") was awarded a federal and state grant from the Office of Juvenile Affairs ("OJA") to implement a Community Intervention Center ("CIC") in early 1997. Originally, this was a pilot project and the City of Norman was one of five cities to open a CIC. This program began in October of 1997 and is located at 1900 West Robinson in Westwood Park.
The CIC is a multi-city collaborated project. The federal money for the program was originally "seed" money to start the program. By design of the grant, the federal funding ceased three years after the inception of the program. Funding for the program is now from the state through OJA. Since that time, the CIC program has been very successful and has been considered one of the premier projects of OJA. The CIC program was the first program to have a partnership between a local government, the state government, youth service agencies and law enforcement.
The purpose of the CIC is to provide a community based location for law enforcement officers to take juveniles, who have been apprehended for committing an offense that is not detention-eligible, for the purpose of holding, supervising and releasing the juveniles to a parent or guardian as appropriate. The goal of the program is two-fold: To maximize police officer productivity by returning them back to patrol duties as timely as possible and to have a consistent entry for juveniles into the juvenile justice system where they can be offered social services and be evaluated for needs.
Both the CIC and the Emergency Youth Shelter are operated by Crossroads Youth and Family Services, Inc. Each project has different funding sources and budgets. Funds from any contract or grant earmarked for CIC operations or the Shelter cannot be diverted or comingled.
Under the administrative rules adopted by the OJA, the juveniles may be held at the CIC for up to twenty-four (24) hours until a parent, guardian or responsible adult can be located. If a parent is not located within the 24-hour time period, the juvenile is transferred to the Emergency Youth Shelter where deprived children are held. While at the CIC, information for court and social service referrals are gathered. Upon arrival to obtain custody of a child at the facility, the parent or responsible adult must sign a promise to appear in court with the juvenile. If a juvenile misses a court date, both the parent and the juvenile may receive additional citations and/or have a warrant issued for their arrest under City ordinances. The CIC, in conjunction with juvenile municipal court programs, has been an important tool in dealing with juvenile crime in the community.
Prior to the CIC, police officers were delayed several hours at a time, trying to contact and wait for a parent to take responsibility for an arrested juvenile. The CIC allows an officer to release the juvenile defendant to their custody. This allows the officer to return to patrol within minutes. The current average time an officer spends dropping a juvenile off at the CIC is 15 minutes or less. The current average time the juvenile remains at the CIC waiting on a parent or responsible adult to pick him or her up is 6.43 hours. For a 12-month period, this time savings, on the part of the police officers, is 3,114 hours and is valued at $84,148.
A previous requirement to receive the federal and state grant funding was for the participating municipalities to contribute a percentage of matching funds for the program. After the federal grant funds were discontinued, OJA, through state appropriations, provided the majority of the funding for the CIC program. In FYE14, OJA provided $245,087. Although the state technically no longer requires matching funds, they strongly encourage financial contributions from each of the municipalities. OJA has indicated that funding participation by the benefited cities will be a factor considered in future reapplications for funding. Practically, the cities' matching funds have become a necessity for continued use of a 24-hour 7 day a week facility as state and federal funding has decreased. In prior years, the contributory funding from cities of $95,000, has previously been split between the City of Norman - $40,000, Moore - $40,000, Lexington - $5,000, Noble - $5,000 and Purcell - $5,000.
DISCUSSION:
Contract Period
Three years ago, the City approved Contract No. K-1112-10 with OJA to provide for the funding and operation of the CIC and the City then subcontracted with Crossroads to operate the CIC as outlined above. That contract with OJA contained an automatic renewal provision for fiscal years ending June 30, 2013 (FYE13) and June 30, 2014 (FYE14). This year's Contract No. K-1415-19 contains a similar option to renew for two additional consecutive 12-month periods following the FYE15 contract.
Reduction of OJA Award
For FYE15, the State Legislature made reductions to agency budgets across the state, including OJA. Originally, the proposed funding reduction to the CIC budget was anticipated to be 1.75% or less than $5,000. However, at the conclusion of the OJA budgeting adjustments, the reduction to the FYE15 CIC budget totaled $69,887, and $175,200 was the total amount awarded. This reduction in funding significantly impacts the viability of the CIC for FYE15. As in the past, to receive this funding from the state for this program a municipality must demonstrate its ability to provide the services required under the OJA contract. As discussed above, the method utilized by Norman of demonstrating the ability to provide required services under the program is to contract with a designated youth service agency, such as Crossroads. With approval of Contract K-1415-20 with Crossroads, the City will then notify OJA of the contract and execute documents that will allow Crossroads to submit invoices directly to OJA for payment under the contract as appropriate.
While Crossroads intends to work with the legislature to restore state funding to prior year levels, several options to address this year's funding reduction have been discussed between OJA staff, Crossroads staff and City staff. Some options have involved establishing an on-call system or closing the CIC in its entirety for extended periods of time; however, the option that would continue to allow the City of Norman and all other partnering jurisdictions to maintain similar operational procedures of transferring custody of a juvenile offender to Crossroads staff so that police officers are back on patrol within the current 15 minute window is to allow officers to drop juveniles off at the Emergency Youth Shelter during a 48 hour period that begins at 8:00 a.m. on Monday and ends at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday mornings, the procedure would then revert to the current procedure of dropping the juveniles off at the CIC. Historically, statistics show that this time period is the lowest percentage of transfers of any other consecutive 48 hour period in the week and, therefore, represents the adjustment that would have the least impact.
As previously mentioned, with this option, police officers will still be able to transfer juvenile detainees in a timely manner to return to patrol, and the only change in procedure from the City's perspective would be a change in the location to drop off the juveniles for the 48 hour period beginning Monday at 8:00 a.m. This option would eliminate the need for officers to be off patrol for extended periods of time whether waiting for on-call personnel from Crossroads to be available or waiting on parents to respond. This change will reduce Crossroads' staffing by 2 FTEs and 1 PTE, in order to staff the CIC from 8:00 a.m. Wednesday until 8:00 a.m. Monday. This reduction in staffing and slight change in service delivery is projected to save a little less than $50,000. To accomplish this adjustment to provide a location for juvenile drop off by Norman police officers on a 24-hour 7 day a week basis, an additional contribution from the City in the amount of $20,000 will be necessary. While all cities were contacted regarding the reduction in funds, no other municipalities were able to increase their contributions. Since the City of Norman Police Department uses the facility approximately 56% of the time with the next biggest user being the City of Moore Police Department at approximately 20% of the time, the additional contribution of $20,000, raising the City of Norman's total cost share from 42% to 52%, is appropriate and justified.
The significant reduction of funds which necessitates this change in operations and increased funding request of the City in the amount of $20,000 is anticipated to be a one-time situation. All CICs operating throughout the State were similarly impacted by significant funding cuts. As a result, other agencies such as OML and the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police will be working alongside Crossroads staff, OJA board members and state legislators to return the funding levels awarded prior to FYE15 for subsequent fiscal years.
If the City no longer desires to operate the CIC in this manner, then the City may decline to approve the contract with Crossroads and so notify OJA. However, as was noted above, the CIC, operated by Crossroads, not only better allocates the time of law enforcement officers, but also serves the community by allowing youth to be professionally assessed for needs and then reunited with responsible family members, should the youth find themselves involved in criminal activity.
Contract No. K-1415-20 is between the City of Norman and Crossroads Youth & Family Center, Inc., for Crossroads to continue to be the service provider for the Community Intervention Center. Crossroads will be responsible for hiring employees and running the day to day activities of the CIC. The City owns the building used by the CIC and the agreement continues the lease of the facility for $1 per year. In addition, this contract also commits the City of Norman to provide funding of $60,000 toward the continued operation of the CIC for FYE15.
From 1997 until fiscal year ending 2008, the City's matching portion of this grant had been previously budgeted in either the Legal Department Professional Services Account, General Fund Professional Services Account, or Police Department Professional Services Account. During the fiscal year ending 2008, Council requested that the matching funds from the City for this project be removed from the regular budget and later appropriated out of the General Fund balance as the contracts came before Council. However, in this fiscal year, it is staff's recommendation that the $60,000 matching funds portion of the grant to be paid to Crossroads Youth and Family Center Inc. be appropriated from the Seizures and Restitution Fund Balance/Unreserved Account (No. 025-0000-253.20-00) to Other Professional Services Account (No. 025-6035-421.40-99).
If Contract No. K-1415-20 in the amount of $235,200 (including the $60,000 appropriation from the City) with Crossroads is approved to continue the operation of the CIC as modified for FYE15, the City will provide an executed copy of the contract to OJA. Additionally, the City will provide an executed Affidavit of Assignment to Crossroads and OJA allowing direct payment to Crossroads from OJA upon their receipt and review of proper invoices. The City's contribution will be paid directly to Crossroads upon approval of the contract.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff has reviewed and recommends approval of Contract No. K-1415-19 with the Office of Juvenile Affairs to continue operations of the Community Intervention Center, as modified for FYE15. Approval of Contract No. K-1415-20 with Crossroads Youth and Family Center is the following item on this agenda and includes a budget appropriation from the Seizures and Restitution Fund Balance. If these contracts are approved, the Affidavit of Assignment should also be executed to allow direct payment of OJA funds to Crossroads. Staff will be available if there are further questions or concerns.