Board Members Present: Annette Clark, Jim Whiteside, Joe Ledl, Pat Joyce, Peggy Davis, Phillip Britt, Steve Narrow, and Tom Breedlove.

 

Staff Present: Pam Waggoner, Ann Wilson, Rick Morrisey, and Jeremy Johnson.

 

 

The meeting began at Noon with a breakout in Committees until 1:45 p.m.

 

Each committee presented information about goals for 2008.

 

Membership Committee:   Steve Narrow, Tom Breedlove, Annette Clark

 

            The Committee developed a marketing plan for 2008 including –

1.      Have a booth at the Spring Training Institution, NADCP conference and have membership brochures at the MADCP conference.

2.      Develop a nice display for the association

3.      Print a large supply of the membership brochure to have at the booths , regional meetings and career fairs

4.      Order give-away items for the booth

5.      Have a drawing for a larger item such as a polo shirt

 

There was further discussion about providing training to targeted groups such as prosecutors, sheriff’s association, criminal defense lawyers, etc. Each group could be given a free conference registration for the next drug court conference.

 

Legislative Committee: Phillip Britt, Jim Whiteside

 

Judge Price attended the Committee meeting and made the presentation for the committee. In the short term; there needs to be more money for drug courts each year. The Drug Courts Coordinating Commission is requesting $3.5 million in additional funding for FY09. The Resources Fund will be spent at the end of FY08. Additional funding is needed to keep up with the expansion of the drug courts; $1 million will keep the drug courts as they are operating now, $2 million is needed to allow for capacity in the newly operational drug courts and the expansion of the experienced drug courts. The additional $500,000 will be for the sustainability of the reintegration courts.

 

In the long term, there are three items that will need special attention:

 

 

All drug court professionals need to talk with their legislators about their programs. There are some targeted circuits that need more money to expand as they had expected to do before the limited funding. Everyone needs to talk with Representative Allen Icet about the need additional funding. There may be a second push with the Senate depending upon the status of the budget. Spring break for the legislature is scheduled for March 14 – 25, 2008.

 

Education Committee: Pat Joyce, Peggy Davis, Kelly VanVleck

 

The priorities for 2008 include:

 

 

 

                  Jim Whiteside moved to accept the minutes as written. Annette Clark 2^nd the motion. The Board approved the minutes.

 

                  Pam Waggoner presented the treasurer’s report submitted by Dale Good, treasurer. The balance December 31, 2007 was $32,028.20. Pat Joyce moved to accept the treasurer’s report. Steve Narrow seconded the motion. The Board voted to approve the Treasurer’s report as submitted.

 

                  The 2008 National Conference will be held in St. Louis on May 28-31, 2008. The pre-registration deadline for the conference is Friday, April 25, 2008. Registrations can be made on-line by using a credit card. The 11^th MADCP conference will be held on March 25-27, 2009 and the 12^th conference will be held March 24-26, 2010.

 

                  Rick Morrisey presented the information about the Drug Courts Coordinating Commission meeting held on January 18, 2008. The Commission approved the RFP for drug courts. The pre-proposal conference will be held on February 13-14, 2008 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. each day. The Commission made a reallocation of funds (approximately 2%) to programs.

 

                        Phillip Britt presented the report on the Alternative Treatment Court Committee. The first annual report was submitted to the Supreme Court on June 30, 2007. Included in the report was information pertaining to the civil and criminal change of venue to assist with transfers between drug courts. The next report will include a statutory change regarding Commissioners that will make it clearer about the effective date of orders and mirror the family court commissioner position. This year, the Committee will be working on a best practices document for adult and juvenile drug courts. The next steps will be to look at best practices for family, DWI and mental health courts.

                        The Board discussed the status of regional meetings in their area.

            Jim Whiteside indicated a survey was conducted in region 5 to see if there should be a separation between rural and urban areas in the region. The result was supportive of one meeting all together. Planning for a meeting/training will occur in the near future.

            Pat Joyce indicated that surveys were sent out 3 times with no response. 

            Region 2 held a 1 day training session in Macon that had a good turn out and was enjoyed by all.

            Region 7 held a 1 day training/meeting. There was time to break up by role to have some discussion before the afternoon training.

            Region 6 had a very good training last year, but haven’t had time to put anything together this year.

                        Pat Joyce moved to rename the Membership Committee to the Communications Committee with the members on the Committee being the same. Steve Narrow seconded the motion. All voted to approve the motion.

            Jim Whiteside moved that the Education Committee pursue the establishment of a website and develop a web domain name to be up and running by the MADCP conference and allow for costs up to $500. Pat Joyce seconded the motion. All voted to approve the motion.

                        Steve Narrow moved to recess the Business until Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Pat Joyce seconded the motion. All voted to approve the motion.

 

 

The business meeting was resumed at 8:30 a.m.

 

                        The Board discussed the possibility of hiring a part-time executive director. The duties of the executive director would include making all preparations for the state conference, develop a budget plan and presentation for the purpose of fund raising, developing a training package for practitioner training, mentoring program, and planning. The executive could also provide legislative tracking.

 

            Ann Wilson will provide the Board the number of hours to develop the state conference as well as the cost of copying documents.

 

            The Board determined that donations could be requested for the fostering and development of educational programs for practitioners and to provide on-site assistance to drug court programs.

 

            The Board discussed the need to hire a professional fund raiser instead of depending upon the Board members or other drug court staff to be able to spend time fund raising for the Board.

 

                        After much discussion, the Board decided to develop a tiered system of donations to designate the level of donation. Perks for the different levels of donations could include a free booth at the conference, free registration, and identified on the website as a specific donation level.

 

            The Board also agreed to begin immediately to go to the treatment providers for funds, approximately $5,000 from each provider.

 

                        The Board discussed the nominations for the Claire McCaskill award. They agreed to change the application for nominations to delete the requirement of needing 3 nominations per nominee. The Board will conduct an e-mail survey to determine the award recipient.

 

            The Board also discussed the need to develop a couple of other awards since the Claire McCaskill award is intended to be someone who makes significant contributions to the drug court field, beyond the local drug court program. The other awards included the ‘Unsung Hero Award’ and the ‘Drug Court Champion’ award.  The Board will develop criteria for the ‘Unsung Hero Award’ at the next Board meeting. The Board agreed upon the recipient of the first “Drug Court Champion” award.

 

            The nominating committee made the following report regarding Board nominees:

 

·        Bill Bader does not want to return to the Board

·        Brenda Cone (Highway Patrol, drug task force in Cape Girardeau County), Chris Mennemeyer (Private attorney in the 45^th circuit), and Peggy Davis (Drug Court Commissioner in Greene County) have all agreed to be appointed to the Board in April.

·        Sam Clemens, Sheriff in Ray County, has agreed to be on the MADCP Board, if he is reelected in April.

·        Penny Clodfelter (drug court administrator in the juvenile and family drug courts in Jackson County) and Mike Noble (drug court commissioner in St. Louis City) will be asked to be appointed to the Board by the Nominating Committee.

·        Phillip Britt, Annette Clark, Kelly VanVleck and Joe Ledl have agreed to be reappointed for a second term on the Board.

Pat Joyce moved to adopt the slate of new nominees to the Board. Jim Whiteside seconded the motion. The Board voted to approve the motion.

 

            Pat Joyce moved to adopt the slate of reappointments to the Board. Steve Narrow seconded the motion. The Board voted to approve the motion.

 

                        After brief discussion, the Board agreed that the courts that have been operating ten years and more will receive a framed certificate. The original judge will be invited. Ann Wilson will contact the programs to see if there are any original members still on the team and to indicate that the programs will be recognized. This will be during the first day of the conference during the membership meeting.

 

            There was also discussion regarding some recognition of outgoing Board members. The Board agreed that a certificate indicating the years of service would be appropriate.

 

                        The next meeting of the MADCP Board will be held during the state conference on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Tan-Tar-A.

                  The meeting was adjourned on Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 11:45 a.m..