THANK YOU, AND AN UPDATE

 

©Wendell Griffen, 2022

 

During the November 15 meeting of the Agenda Committee for the Pulaski County Quorum Court Judge-Elect LaTonya Austin Honorable and I alerted the Justices of the Peace during the Public Comments period that County Comptroller Mike Hutchens and his associates (including County Attorney Adam Fogelman), substituted a budget for Fifth Division on October 7 that was $180,156 lower than the budget proposal the Budget Committee reviewed and approved on October 6. 

When Judge-Elect Honorable later discovered the discrepancy, she attempted to speak with County Judge Barry Hyde about it by phone and in person. Neither effort was fruitful. Judge Hyde hung up on Judge-Elect Honorable during the phone call. When Judge-Elect Honorable approached Judge Hyde following the October 25 Quorum Court meeting and asked if she could speak with him about the Fifth Division budget proposal, he curtly responded “No” and stormed from the meeting room. His abrasive behavior was witnessed by several persons, including Justices of the Peace. 

Based on that history, I made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on November 3 for all documents and communications related to the budget for the Fifth Division of the Pulaski Circuit Court. The documents produced by County Attorney Fogelman on November 7 in response to that FOIA request included what Judge-Elect Honorable delivered to the Agenda Committee during her Public Comment remarks. Specifically, the documents show that on October 7, 2022 – the day after the Budget Committee approved the Fifth Division budget proposal - the Comptroller’s office created a document indicating that the Budget Committee approved an amount $180,156 less than it actually voted to approve.

The Budget Committee was not aware of that discrepancy. The Budget Committee did not authorize the discrepancy. As Circuit Judge of Fifth Division, I was not notified by the Comptroller or the County Attorney about the discrepancy.

As I stated to the Agenda Committee after Judge-Elect Honorable delivered proof of the discrepancy during the Public Comment period, the $180,156 discrepancy equals the combined salary and benefits for three probation officers in Fifth Division.

I objected to that deliberate covert attempt to substitute a lower amount for the Fifth Division budget by circumventing – and disregarding – the Quorum Court Budget Committee. That attempt was a deliberate scheme to defund three probation officers for Fifth Division.

Probation officers are Pulaski County employees who diligently work with hundreds of probation clients who have been sentenced in Fifth Division for committing criminal offenses.

The officers help clients obtain mental health treatment, treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, and intervention for anger management, domestic violence, dishonesty, and other issues.

The probation officers work with treatment and other social services providers to help clients comply with community service and education obligations that are part of the sentences.

If clients willfully violate probation terms and conditions, probation officers and prosecutors request that probation be revoked. When I determine that clients are disobeying probation terms and conditions, I revoke probation and impose new sentences, including imprisonment.

The Fifth Division probation staff performs court-supervised and monitored probation as part of a holistic approach to criminal punishment that reduces the risk of recidivism. Through that approach, probation clients make restitution for crimes of dishonesty, obtain mental health services, get treatment for alcohol and drug dependency, address educational deficits, and perform community service to address the effects of wrongful behavior.

The Pulaski County Quorum Court has funded court-supervised and monitored probation and the Fifth Division holistic approach to criminal punishment since the late 1980s for an obvious reason. It works.

I am grateful to the Justices of the Peace on the Quorum Court who support that work. I am grateful to the people of Pulaski County whose tax dollars pay the salaries and benefits for the probation officers in Fifth Division who do that work. 

I am proud of the men and women on the Fifth Division probation team, honored to be associated with them, and blessed to see how their competence, professionalism, and commitment to public safety benefit Pulaski County.

And, I am glad Judge-Elect Honorable shares and is committed to continue court-supervised and monitored probation as part of a holistic approach to criminal punishment when she takes office on January 1, 2023. 

The notion that anyone would attempt to derail our collective effort is more than unpleasant. It is offensive.

The Quorum Court will meet next Tuesday evening, November 22, at 6 pm at 301 Broadway to vote on the budget for Fifth Division. Please help Judge-Elect Honorable, Fifth Division probation officers, the human service providers who work with our probation clients, probation clients, their families, community leaders, and me ask Justices of the Peace to pass an ordinance appropriating the full amount the Budget Committee reviewed and approved on October 6.

Meanwhile, Judge-Elect Honorable and I will continue to be vigilant. As Justices of the Peace learned last night, we have good reason for that vigilance.