The meeting was called to order by D1 President Paul Sawyer
at 6:35p. Paul welcomed the 40+ people present in the gym at Battle Creek Rec
Center and introduced Ramsey County Commissioner, Jim McDonough.
McDonough talked about the changes which have taken place
and will be taking place in Ramsey County Corrections, specifically in the
Juvenile Corrections Division. These changes in administration reflect the
demographic changes in Ramsey County generally, with a large number of
baby-boomers at or near retirement. This change reflects an opportunity for
community members interested in good paying careers in corrections and other
aspects of county government. Michelle Finstad is the new coordinator of
Juvenile Services.
McDonough then gave a history of Boys Totem Town and the
recent efforts to evaluate the alignment of the facility and programming at the
institution. Boys Totem Town originated 101 years ago and has been at the
current location since the 1930s. But recently the number of young men at the
facility has decreased and the staff had become aware of some problems with the
match between needs and opportunities. A consultant was called in and made the
recommendation that the mismatch be addressed by building a new facility that
supports the programming currently in place. The options it proposed were that
a new facility be built at the current location or at a new location, and that
consideration be given to merging the programming with other similar operations
– other counties. So for the past several months, Ramsey and Hennepin County
Juvenile residential facilities have been discussing whether it makes sense and
is possible for them to merge their programs to the benefit of both populations.
This has been phase 1 – what would be the reasons to say yes or no, and what
would be the deal killers? The results of phase 1 have been presented to a
steering committee that includes County Commissioners from both counties, and
juvenile judges from both counties. This steering committee voted unanimously
to go on to phase 2, to be completed by November of this year. Phase 2 will get
us to the actual decision point of saying yes or no to the merger itself. There
seems to be more of a commitment from both boards to get more people working on
this merger possibility. Ramsey County currently doesn’t deal with sex
offenders or girls at Boys Totem Town, but Hennepin County does – Ramsey County
recognizes that adding these services to its programming would be a huge
benefit. Both systems are in agreement philosophically and programmatically,
but they will continue to look at funding and administration. There is also a
recognition that some kids don’t go to either system and are sent to Red Wing
or out of state but we know that keeping them closer to home is better, so they
will be looking at potentially including them locally as long as they can have
the support structure for the kids as they move toward re-integration with the
society.
McDonough recognizes that the D1 local community is supportive
of Boys Totem Town as it is. But there are some realities that are coming
clear. His commitment is that when the counties decide yes or no to merge, it
still won’t be decided where the facility will be but it is highly likely that
it would not be at current site. So in November will be the point where we need
to begin talk about reuse of the current site and creating a community process for
this discussion.
McDonough promises, “We will not move off that property or
sell it until the community has a decision of what it wants to do with the
site.” He is committed to coming back to the community at each point along the
way so that the community knows where things stand and how the county will help
it deal with the changes
Phase 1 report summary – looked at governance (County knows
how to do joint mergers – has done several of them); The County doesn’t want to
see the kids back in the corrections system, want to see them in mental health,
chemical dependency and other programs to help them; they know that keeping
kids as close to home as possible, but more support is needed in the community
if the youth are not kept confined; we know that the deeper into the system
kids go, the more likely they are to come back into the criminal justice system
later. We also are aware that there are a lot of cost-sharing with merger so
the funds can be invested back into the kids or to other parts of county
services or in tax relief.
The question of leaving or staying – County board took a
long look last year at its mission in light of the fact that Ramsey County has
the largest area of racially concentrated poverty in the state. This is a huge
issue and the disparity is at the heart of the Ramsey’s concern – the kids in
BTT are coming disproportionately from this area of racially concentrated
poverty – so the County’s number 1 mission is to deal with this concentration
of poverty and the disparities that arise from it. Corrections is a human
services field – not a public safety field within the County structure.
Questions from the community:
Where would the merged facility be if not at the current
site? – The County is not at the point of deciding that. It would not be at
either current location in Ramsey of Hennepin County. It would be a brand new
facility at a brand new site.
What effect would leaving make on the community garden and
compost site adjacent to BTT site? Response: The County is committed to
increasing composting and finding locations for compost sites is difficult so
it is highly unlikely that this would move. But it is important that these
concerns be a part of the community discussions about reuse of the site.
The local Somali community is in need of a community
gathering space, and a space for that community to come together with other
parts of the local community. They urge that creation of a community gathering
space be located at this site should BTT leave. This would be a reuse that
would strengthen the community. Response: This should also be a part of the community
discussions after November.
The Highwood Plan – created in the 1990s – had a lot of
community input at that time. It states that the space should remain as public
open space. Response: Consideration of these old plans must be a part of the
community discussions after November. This will be a community decision about
reuse.
There was a lengthy discussion of the reasons why the
population at BTT has decreased but also why it is overwhelmingly made up of
youth of color. The question was asked whether the numbers are lower there
because kids are going deeper into the system. Response: Crime is down
nationwide, juvenile crime is also down, but we also recognize that youth are
better served with lower recidivism rates if they are kept closely connected to
their families and community (with extensive support). A large portion of the
kids in the system have mental health issues and we know that a corrections
setting is not an appropriate setting for treating mental health issues. We do
not want the corrections system to become a recruiting ground for gangs. We
also need to recognize that Saint Paul’s population is actually increasing, and
that the young aged portion of the population is increasing even faster.
Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of these youth are born into areas
that have concentrations of poverty. We must deal with the disparities that
arise from this.
Comments were made that even though crime is down, our
prisons are still full so we are still sending too many people to prison.
Timing for all this should be considered as November being
the starting point of a community process that will define community
priorities. District 1 will be asked to lead this community process (but will
need added resources to do so…)
Meeting was adjourned at 7:40p.
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