Judicial/ AT Court Committee Report

League of Women Voters^®
of Schenectady County

Balancing Justice

Meeting with DSS Commissioner Dennis Packard. Judicial / AT Court Committee Report. Statement to Schenectady City Council.

Meeting with DSS Commissioner Dennis Packard

Helga Schroeter, Co-Chair JudicialAT Committee
A small group of League members met with commissioner Dennis Packard on March 25 to get an update on the status of social services in the county. The commissioner pointed out some current trends, concerns and success stories.
Mr. Packard first high-lighted a preview of the governor's proposed budget, which shifts the county's share to 27% from the previous 25%.
The second big change is that the county will bear the full 100% cost for the detention of children (juvenile delinquents) and provide more local and less restrictive services.
Medicaid, public assistance and shelter allowance grants remain unchanged in the proposed budget, but assistance for singles is changing to 48% state and 52% county funding. Medicaid funding is shifting toward increased outpatient services to stress the importance of preventive care.

Other preventive services, funded 65% by the state and 35% by the county include the hiring of probation officers for schools and more intensive support from case workers for families working towards re-unification to keep children safe and out of placement. The commissioner mentioned several positive trends happening in the department:
1) the Job Training Agency will now be part of DSS and will be physically located in the new DSS building to be opened by 2009.
2) Child support collection has had a record year; the agency has a good working relationship with the Family Court's Support Magistrates. Roughly 1600 children are in day care, parents may paying up to 25% of the cost, depending on income. About 70% of Schenectady's day care is regulated, and the providers are represented by CSEA. 30% of providers are unregulated, which poses more of a challenge in terms of supervision. Other challenges mentioned were re-entry issues for people returning from prison,needing such as health care coverage and employment. The "One Stop" serves all job seekers, providing help with resumes, interviews, workshops on re-entering the work force and some limited training. The commissioner is hoping to relocate a satellite Unemployment Office to Schenectady and house it in the future DSS building. DSS, through the Youth Bureau, also deals with summer employment for over 400 youths, finds work for the disabled as well as for mental health patients and for places able-bodied public assistance recipients in jobs. Finally, the commissioner stated that he strongly believes in the "housing first" model for those who are hard to serve and may be dually diagnosed. DSS works with local agencies, e.g. Bethesda House, the Monastery on Duane Ave and the Salvation Army to find places for the homeless. Mr. Packard is very committed to staying as flexible as possible to address the needs of the department's clients.

Judicial / AT Court Committee Report

Helga Schroeter, Co-chair
On March 12, Connie Young, Inge Lise Pangburn, Maxine Borom, Laura Zeliger (E.D. of the Center for Community Justice and a member of our committee) and I attended a conference at SCCC entitled, Schenectady County "Systems Mapping" which was sponsored by the county's Probation Department in conjunction with the Office of Community Services. The conference had a very comprehensive representation from community agencies and law enforcement representatives who come into contact with clients of the mental health system along with criminal justice services. Apart from probation officers, mental health workers (e.g. Ellis Hospital), Schenectady Police and Sheriff's Deputies, County Court Judge Karen Drago, City Court Judge Christine Clark, Debbie Slack from the Public Defender's office and an Assistant District Attorney were in attendance.
Conference participants first "mapped" existing services and procedures when mental health candidates get involved in the criminal justice services, all the way to jail confinement and resolution of the cases. Along with interactions and co-operations between agencies involved, gaps and shortcomings in the system were identified as a first step towards finding solutions and more effective interaction. The conference was a good step towards finding solutions to work together to find more efficient, humane solutions in dealing with mentally ill people involved in the criminal justice system.
Our LWV committee hopes to continue to be involved as advocates in this process. We look forward to meeting with Mary Lolik, Director of Probation, after an official report has been received from the results of the conference.

Statement to Schenectady City Council

Below is an excerpt from a statement made to the Schenectady City Council on Monday, March 10, 2008 by Helga Schroeter as Judicial Chair and representative to the Schenectady Committee for Social Justice.

I am here tonight to urge your continued strong support of Public Safety Commissioner Bennett, along with your ongoing commitment to the position of a Public Safety Commissioner. The city is very fortunate in having Mr. Bennett's strong leadership skills, as he addresses the ongoing issues facing the Police Department. He needs your clear and full support in his endeavors.
The League has taken very clear positions in the area of oversight, record-keeping and openness of all governmental units at national, state and local levels. It has been a strong supporter of the Police Civilian Review Board. As you know, the local League has a representative on the Review Board! We urge you to strengthen the board's effectiveness by speeding up the review process from the time complaints are received to the final findings of the board and by assuring that the results are publicized. The board's investigator also needs your full support.
Finally, in order to foster greater trust and public confidence in the work of the Police Department, it is of utmost importance to invest in recruiting new officers who more closely resemble the ethnic and racial make-up of the city's population. Therefore, we urge you to be as creative and pro-active as possible to obtain that goal which is strongly supported by Commissioner Bennett.
Thank you very much for allowing me to share the League's concerns with you tonight!

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: September 4, 2008 14:08 PDT.