After I call your name.

Vice Chair White?

Here.

Commissioner Fawn.

Here.

Commissioner Gonzalez.

Commissioner Hayes.

Here.

Commissioner Paulman.

She is late.

So Commissioner Rashid.

Here.

So there is one set of minutes to approve this evening.

Please take a moment to review the this December first minutes in front of you.

Oh, they were in any.

They were in a sound about December first minutes.

Is there a motion to approve the December first minutes?

So moved.

And a second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Pose nay.

December first minutes are approved.

At this time, we are taking oral communication.

Staff will call the names of people in order.

They have signed up either online or in person.

Members of public may speak during one of the two nights oral communications for up to three minutes in person per person or agency program.

After everyone who has signed up to speak has been called.

Staff will ask if there is anyone else who would like to speak.

Staff, can you please call speakers for oral communication?

We do not have anyone signed up online or in person, but if there's anyone in the room or currently online that would like to speak, please raise your hand.

Okay.

I really used to set up these things.

Hi, my name is Chillin Boy Washington.

I am a new citizen of the city.

And I saw the name of the board.

What is the function?

Ah, oh, okay.

Whoops.

Sure.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Understood.

Understood.

Yeah, I'm um a new uh citizen of Washington State.

You know, I've never been to the West Coast.

I've never been in Washington State.

So got drop shipped in from Austin, Texas.

So this is the most moderate uh climate in the United States.

I have multiple scrolls, so anything that's really hot or really, really cold.

Texas is obviously killing me.

So hi.

Um so far, my experience with you guys, or this first this Pacific Northwest in general.

Wow.

It's freaking incredible.

The mixture of cultures, languages.

It's like going to New York City.

Oh yeah.

But on the West Coast.

So I'm like, um, despite that, and the negative thing, not yeah, definitely negative thing.

I was not prepared for the racism at all.

It was like, well, well, they didn't advertise this on different you know on the TV in the movies, you don't hear that.

Um very, very, very, very weird place, too.

So despite that.

Um, I'm loving it.

You know, so it's not like people are people, people are people everywhere.

So no hating on that.

But this place is good for my breathing.

It's for my literally my le the air quality is wonderful.

I'll get offline because I'm sure I'm just mumbling by now.

But uh thank you.

Okay, if there's anyone else in the room or online, you can raise your hand.

Okay, you can go ahead, Chair.

Major Inman, do you have anything to share?

I do not just happy new year.

Thank you.

Happy New Year.

Do we have any commissioner's report?

I can say that Delphina Feetri and I did the parliamentary uh training at the beginning of December, and we all pretty much enjoyed it, didn't we?

I think it was very interesting, like very interesting the way that they presented it.

And I was telling Chris that if it ever comes back around this way, like highly recommend it because it was just a great way to see how boards and commissions can run.

Um and then the other boards and commissions were there too.

So that was neat.

Yeah.

Any staff reports.

So new business item.

We will start a new year business with off officers election.

The human services commission bylaws state that commission shall elect chair and vice chair, and any other officers the commission deems necessary for the term of one year at the first regular meeting in January of each year, or as soon thereafter, as feasible based on seating of newly appointed members.

The election process shall be accordance with the Roberts rule of order newly revised.

This process identifies that nominees will be voted on the order in which they were presented as soon as one of the nominees received a majority vote.

The current chair will declare the person elected.

No votes will be taken on the remaining nominees for off office of chair.

Commission members must cast their vote either A or no for each nominee.

Failure to cast vote means that your vote will be counted in the affirmative.

So nomination for chair are now in order.

I would like to nominate Commissioner Fan for Chair.

Anyone else?

I'd like to nominate uh commissioner Farm for Chair.

Okay.

Oh yeah, I nominee Angela Fan too.

Okay.

Are there any other nomination for chair?

So hearing no further nomination, nomination of commission of chair is now closed.

Oh we still have to vote.

We vote on nominees in order.

So please signify your vote with saying aye when I question is called.

First and the only nominee in commission member for chair is Commissioner Fan.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

This is uh five in favor or all six.

Six, okay.

No one is against seven seven in favor and zero against.

So uh thank you, Commissioner.

This concludes the officer's election for chair.

Now I will um newly elected chair takes the gavel and proceed.

Yes.

Or I'll we can just hand the gavel.

Yeah, just do the gavels.

Okay, that's right.

All right.

All right, thank you.

So let's see here.

Now we're gonna do nominations for the vice chair.

Can I can I I nominate Commissioner Hayes for vice chair?

I nominee commissioner Hayes.

I nomini to uh Chris Heights.

Um are there any other nominations for vice chair hearing no further nominations?

Nominations for vice chair are now closed.

We will vote on the nominees in the order that they have been presented.

Please signify your vote by saying a or no.

The first nominee is Commissioner Member Hayes.

All in favor, please say aye.

Those opposed say no.

The vote is in favor for Commissioner Hayes for Vice Chair.

Oh, the eyes have it.

That's the wording.

Commissioner member Hayes is elected vice chair.

What's this?

After all things.

Oh yep.

Yeah, same same thing.

Chair Finn, can I just interject with a note of gratitude for Commissioner Singh and Commissioner White for your years of service of chair and vice chair?

We really appreciate you both very much.

Would anyone else like to say anything to Jimmy or Angela?

Jimmy, thank you so much for being our chair for the past couple of years.

Really appreciated your leadership.

Um, and I'm glad that you're not leaving.

You're just moving seats, right?

Okay.

And Angela, thank you so much for being vice chair.

Um very, very, very, very glad that you're on this commission and very thankful that we got to do some um great funding together.

So thank you so much.

Anyone else?

Thank you, one of you for leading us for the years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next item of business is a presentation on probation services in community court.

I will now hand it over to the probation manager, Craig Fritz.

Hey, Craig, welcome.

And you're welcome.

So good evening, um, everyone.

I know um some of you uh at the table, but not all of you.

Um actually work very close with uh Tony and Ruth and these wonderful people to my left and right here.

Um, yeah, yourself or do you want me to do it on this?

We'll do it at this point.

Okay, yeah.

So just there.

Yeah, just the perfect.

Um so like um who said, my name is uh Craig Fritz.

I am the probation manager for the city of Bellevue.

Um I have been here close to two years.

Um I also um moved here from Texas uh from the Houston area.

Um and it is I was just there a couple of weeks ago, and it is very very hot.

Um it was it was about 80 degrees the whole time I was there.

So um appealing to some, but not for those of us that live there all our lives.

So um, so what I have been invited to do um this evening is give a presentation on probation services and then also uh our recently um implemented community court.

So um in the reason um yeah, there we go.

Um so presenting to uh this commission.

Um and just looking at the agenda very briefly.

Uh we'll talk first about probation services and then the the Bellevue Community Court and Resource Center.

So I one of the things that I did want to include is I think reporting to this commission um benefits us because we are two divisions within the same city and within the same department, which is of course parks and community services.

Um but our the work that we do um, I believe collectively impacts um marginalized populations within the city.

Um so I think there is definitely a lot of alignment and similarities with what we do.

Our work at the probation division intersects greatly with access to essential services, behavioral health needs, economic insecurity, housing instability, something obviously that this commission and Tony and Ruth and the entire division do wonderfully.

Yeah.

Just makes you smile every day.

It's it's so it's such an honor to be a part of such an incredible organization and department and division.

So just quickly, um, kind of a probation 101, if you will.

Um, what is probation?

Probation is an alternative to incarceration, and I'm preaching to the choir a little bit here, but um instead of instead of being sentenced to jail, um, individuals are um referred or sentenced to probation.

Um within the city of Bellevue, um uh, and I'll go a little bit into our partnership with King County here in just a little bit.

Um, but all of the referrals that we get are misdemeanor level offenses, so they are not anything above a misdemeanor, so we don't go into felonies.

Um that of course is taken care of taken care of, excuse me, at the superior court level.

Um, and then of course there's DOC and federal probation, but we are at the district court level.

Um, it is different from parole.

Um, all my life I've um gotten, you know, how's parole going?

Uh, but parole is actually not probation.

They are an incredibly different.

Um, you hear them spoken about a lot together, but probation, uh, the way I've always thought of it, probation is sort of pre-incarceration or in lieu of incarceration.

Parole is is post um incarceration.

So um a lot of the re-entry programs that you hear about um are kind of at that parole level.

So once somebody is released from incarceration on parole, um, they have parole supervision, um, which is where that comes in.

Um so probation is a period of supervision that is served in the community.

Um one of the greatest benefits is that clients are able to continue to to work.

They are continue, they're able to continue to provide um for their um families.

Uh they're able to continue going to school, they're able to continue doing all of the things in the community um involvement with their family members, um, different things like that while they are on probation, um, because it is uh done obviously within the community.

Um, it is also a source of accountability and collaboration through their um routine connections with our staff, which include probation officers, um uh program coordinators, um the they're able to maintain that accountability and um complete their court ordered uh requirements and and tasks and orders um that they that they have been ordered to do um by the judges.

Um so quickly, uh our partnership with King County District Court.

Um, as many of you are well aware, um the city of Bellevue does not operate its own court system.

In other words, we do not have a munis municipal court system.

We don't elect our own judges.

Um so we have, I don't know how long ago, many, many, many years ago, we entered into a contractual agreement with King County um to serve um clients who are charged uh with offenses in Bellevue.

Um it is done.

Um I won't go into details, but there's a general administrative order that is that is kind of part of that contractual agreement, um, as well as a an MOU that kind of spells out everything that that is expected and that you know should be provided and so forth.

Um looking at our numbers, these are our um kind of just some statistics.

I I love statistics, um, part of me does anyway, but um, these are just the the number of referrals um that we have gotten over the past five years.

I was able to collect um everything from 2025 uh for this presentation.

So as you can see, yeah.

Um what does it say that see the bar on top?

It's covering a word.

Oh it is no, but I don't know.

There we go.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So um five year trend of of clients referred um to probation over the past five years.

So in um looking at the chart, there's obviously a pretty significant upward trend um over the past five years.

Um looking at just the numbers specifically, there was about a 22% increase over um 2024.

Um 48% or so over 2023, 123% growth over 2022, and then finally about a 215% increase um since 2021.

Um, and that of course is looking at that common denominator of what we got in 2025.

So as you can see, very significant upward trend um that has been taking place um over the past five years.

Um we all know Bellevue is a growing city.

Um a lot more people come here to you know to to play and to study and to work.

So we I think that is certainly a contributing factor to the growth.

Um, and then also there have also been some increased investments in in other public safety like police, um, which generally in one of my very first criminal justice classes, we learned that you know, people think that if there's more police, you know, crime rates will go down, but sometimes they do go up because there is a uh higher presence.

So um and then, you know, just an overall, you know, growth as we have um gone over the past um five years.

Um looking at just a couple of more statistics, these are um our percentages of uh probation referrals by reported gender um for 2025 as well.

Um and the that blue number is 25.8.

It's kind of hard to see there.

Um this is the uh our 2025 referrals by reported race.

Um so we do we are able to collect that data and um you know look at you know the the reported race of those that were referred to us, um, and we do take a lot of that into consideration um when we are providing different um uh you know classes and and and different things like that.

So yeah, that is there.

Tony, do you want me to pause still?

I just I think there was some I think there was some um yeah, yeah, yeah.

You shouldn't you should have told me that you should have told me that earlier.

I think there are I I will disclaim or I should have disclaimed before there are a lot of times when people do not report um their their race or their gender.

So a lot of um we are certainly working on that.

Um that is something that I've been talking about for the past what couple of years.

So yeah, there are some some blanks, but um yeah, so that could account for the the hundred percent.

So yeah, no worries.

Um yeah, sure and bring forward to probation with the growth of court cases we refer to King County.

I would say it's I I would say there's probably a pretty direct correlation.

I I haven't done, I haven't looked at growth like outside of a Bellevue specifically.

Um, so I I couldn't answer specifically to like other other jurisdictions or other cities.

Um, but I would I I would I would imagine that there's probably a direct correlation in growth um that same kind of upper trend in the others in others as well.

I I guess my question is is the growth in report to probation because we're seeing a growth in cases in Bellevue, or is it because the courts are referring more cases to probation?

Sure.

I and I I do think that there are from what I hear from the judges and the and the the King County board staff that we work at over at our courthouse, um, I think they have seen a huge influx of of cases.

Um and then also not to you know not to to boast or brag, but I think we I think we have a really good division, and I think we offer really great services and we have really a lot of success.

So I think that lends, you know, itself to more referrals, you know, just because of the of the outcomes and uh results that that we see with our success.

So thank you.

Just one question.

If you had a chance to compare your pre-COVID case referrals to the post-COVID case referrals, they were they and I almost included 2020 because I I think there was a I can't remember exactly if it was 19 to 20 or 20 to 21, but they were they were higher and then they dipped in in 2020 when COVID happened.

Um and I think that was obviously just because court was not happening, you know, court was uh, I mean, I wasn't here, so I can only speak of what I knew at my old apartment, but the dockets were backed up, you know, they they spent you know two or three years trying to get caught up, but we did see uh kind of a dip and then a slow, well pretty significant gradual growth, you know, back up.

But I I without quoting statistics, I we in 2025 were much higher than we were even pre-COVID.

Um we were not near that level um even before COVID happened.

So hope that answers your question.

Yeah, awesome.

Um so common barriers and challenges faced by clients.

I think again, this is um something that that we all see um accessibility.

Um clients face uh just a myriad of environments where um you know that are not accessible to their needs and to their situations.

Um they face overall negative impacts and perspectives where you know various disabilities are concerned.

Um economic factors, um, many are trapped in and financial hardships, um, you know, due to job availability, qualifications, um, transportation, child care, housing, uh, disabilities, public assistance programs, um, you know, just the a lot of times with um a DUI, for example, they get their um driver's license taken away um, you know, for a you know, maybe a lengthy period of time or a you know, shortened period of time, but you know, they do that, and then you know, the courts also require them to do all of these other things, you know.

So it's it kind of puts them between a rock and a hard place.

Do they um you know abide by the law and not drive without a license, or do I satisfy my court requirements, you know?

So it's that kind of hardship that we see um there.

Um education and employment, um, many of our clients unfortunately haven't had access to education opportunities or employment opportunities.

And I I prefer to say haven't had because you know, that is one of the things that we like to focus on is is helping them connect those uh the bridges there to um get those uh resources, you know, to the education and employment that um you know that they desire.

Um housing, obviously, um affordable housing, a lot of them don't have access to that.

Um language access, um many clients are in need of services that are not offered in their primary language, and I'll I'll hit language access a little more in just a little bit.

Um and then transportation.

Um, you know, compared to where I came from, you know, this is like a uh just uh, you know, for lack of better words, transportation heaven, you know.

But I understand that even you know, some people here, you know, still have have concerns with transportation.

You know, our office, for example, is is on the south side of town.

We're over at the port house in the Bellfield office park.

Um, and we don't have a bus stop that comes right to our door.

It's it's down the street.

Um but we found out last year that bellhop now has comes down to that area.

So that was certainly something that um, you know, we very quickly printed out, you know, little flyers and put them on everybody's desk for you know for the bellhop services.

So um that has really helped out uh with with the transportation barrier there.

Um so again, what benefits does probation provide to clients?

Um an ability, like I said earlier, to maintain presence in the community, um, and of course the avoidance of incarceration, it allows them to continue in their daily lives, continue to to work, uh to go to school, um to you know, maintain that presence at home.

Um one of my favorites, if I am allowed to choose a favorite is the access to resources, services, and treatment.

Um they were able to provide um a lot of the services that uh clients are in need of, we are very fortunate to provide in-house um at our office.

Um, and I'll go over that in a second, a little in a little more detail.

Um what I what I discovered, and I think what is is pretty obvious in a lot of situations was that um, you know, clients were ordered to do different things by the judges, and then they said, you know, here's your list.

Now, you know, go find them and go do them, you know, and they could be something could be done in Seattle, you know, that my treatment might be in rent end, you know, I might have something over, you know, in the Eastgate area or something, you know.

So what we what I've tried to do um is really condense everything down to our office.

Um I look at Tony because I I have all kind of ideas in my mind, but I'm taking one thing at a time.

Um and then of course, going kind of with that is the availability of local programming.

Again, they are literally um able to walk out of the courtroom door and kind of do like a U-turn into our office, and that is where we are to provide those services.

Um, and all of our services are offered at at no cost uh to the client.

So um that barrier was removed in August of last year, I believe.

So almost 2024, yes.

I'm I'm still like January or December 31st here.

So um benefits to the community.

Um that is something that we always um always always always like to think about and look at.

Um it does result uh probation itself does unroll result in enhanced accountability of clients, um, which in turn does result in increased safety.

Um we again work with them to ensure accountability um to make sure that they are abiding by the terms and conditions of their probation or of their court order, um, which again results in increased community safety for all of the residents um for the victims of of the of the offenses and so on.

Um there is an overall cost savings um to the city.

Um we are again are able to stabilize them through you know the the supervision, the accountability, the connection um to the services, and of course that um in most situations I'll say does decrease um repeat law enforcement contexts.

Um we um over the past several years that I've looked at have had really, really low recidivism rates uh within the city of Bellevue, um, which of course is is what we what we want to see.

Um and then reintegration that because you're talking about the individuals that commit crime in the city of Bellevue, but they might not be residing in Bellevue.

Are you checking to make sure that they have no criminal record anywhere in the country?

Yes.

Well, well, so and help me out here because I may be I may not be clear, but what we look at, we we look at um recidive recidivism rates of of crimes that are committed within the city of Bellevue, and then we look at recidivism rates that are committed uh or for offenses that are committed anywhere.

Um so the the low number is is the one that is within the city of Bellevue.

Um the the anywhere number is is also relatively low.

I think it was around 15% or so the last time we did it.

Um, and that is looking at um the a three-year period.

Um so we we look at um, you know, the past three years, and then we we do uh uh a sample and we we do go through each of those um criminal histories to see if there were any any new offenses through that three-year time.

We take a sample, you're not looking at the whole thing.

We we don't we don't.

It's uh it's uh it's a pretty big list.

So but it is a manual process.

There's no way to run a recidivism statistic, so it's taking a client.

So they take a representative, they try to make sure the clients are representative of crimes and other demographics, and we use it as a sample.

But that sample has produced relatively stable results um in the almost eight years that I've been here, which seems to be indicative that it's it's giving us a good sampling of our overall clients.

But yes, we maintain both the repeat offense in Bellevue or Repeat offense anywhere.

Um it gets higher if you go outside of Bellevue, but it's all still lower than um uh more generalized recidivism statistics.

And the three years because probation is usually three years.

We I think that was just established as a kind of a marker, I guess, or yeah.

Um some of the others we've compared to actually only do a one-year recidivism rate, and we wanted to go longer than a year, so we picked three years.

My other question is that so Bellevue has the the probation program.

What other cities in the area have that?

Pretty much well, so the interesting thing is that um King County does have a uh a probation department or probation division.

Um, and they have um, and it took me a really long time to understand this, so I'm gonna try to explain it to where it makes sense.

But King County has probation officers in Redmond um in Shoreline and well, not in Auburn anymore because Auburn is transitioning to its own municipal court.

Um they have probation officers in Seattle.

Um, but those are they're they kind of work like at a satellite office, if you will.

So they're they are part of the King County um probation department.

They just work in these outlying cities um kind of around us.

Um there are um some of the ones that come to mind, um, like Des Moines has its own uh municipal court and probation division.

Um Tuckwilla is another one that comes to mind.

Um Auburn will soon.

Um Kirkland has its own um Redmond has King County probation officers there.

Um so it's different.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, depending on on what cities you look at.

So yeah, yeah, thank you.

Um so yeah, so again, just reintegration of individual individuals back into or into their community.

Um, and again, that kind of goes back to that um, you know, just being able to continue with their lives.

Um our probation officers and program coordinators, um they take on the roles of of collaboration again, just meeting with clients each month, or you know, more often if needed to make sure that needs are being met, that requirements are being satisfied.

Um we do, you know, evaluations, we do risk and needs assessments on on some of our clients that um that were required of them.

Um and then we also really uh rely heavily on evaluations from external providers, um, substance use um evaluations, um, mental health evaluations, because that does assist us with supervising them to making, you know, to make sure that they are connected to the services.

Um investigation, we look at client backgrounds, we look at criminal histories for different reasons.

Um we also look at you know their their instant offense or their current offense to see if there's anything that might be there that we might have gotten from the police that will help us to um better supervise them.

Um of course we do ongoing monitoring um to make sure that there's accountability and adherence um to the court orders.

Uh referrals, you know, if if we don't have what a client needs, we we make that external referral to you know, somewhere that is local, um, preferably or at least local to their residence, um, because sometimes um, you know, they may not live in Bellevue, they might have just come into their offense in Bellevue, so they might live in um Olympia.

We have clients that live down in Olympia, you know.

So we try to obviously meet them where they are, you know, instead of saying, hey, you know, come up, you know, make a two-hour drive for uh a 30-minute appointment, you know.

So um, and then of course, reporting.

Um we maintain a very uh close, you know, communication, a very close partnership with the courts.

So we are often reporting to the courts, not only violations, but we're also reporting um, you know, compliance, um, letting the judges know that they are um you know compliant, that they're doing well, you know, we do updates uh at different at different junctures along the way, um, as far as reporting to the court scope.

Um so just some of our our program offerings, we do a live at 25.

Uh this is a live at 25 is a defensive driving course for individuals 24 and younger.

Um, I think the youngest I've seen come through is uh 16.

Um, so I haven't seen anybody younger than that.

There might have been in the past, but we have had some that were 16 and of course up to 24.

Coping with anger is our anger management program.

So a lot of clients who were charged with sort of assaultive offenses, uh, but not domestic violence, um, are referred to our coping with anger program.

Um domestic violence um moral recognition therapy that have that's our DVMRT, that is our our lengthy, it is about six months.

It's a program that they attend once a week.

Uh and those, of course, are mainly um domestic violence related charges.

Um we have a defensive driving course uh for anyone who is 25 years of age and up.

Um so we do offer that.

Um gateway is kind of our in-house um resource uh connection.

Um so we are able to sit down with with clients who um who have needs identified, such as insurance or housing or um employment education, you know.

So we we work with them on that.

Um the license support program.

Um we have a program where we sit down with clients and look at their um driving records if they have a suspension.

Um we you know, we help them to you know make the phone calls to the to the court or you know, to the other municipality where the suspension is to see what needs to be done.

Um and you know, a lot of times we you know, thankfully are able to say, well, we have a defensive driving course here.

Would that suffice, you know, for you know, some a little discount on the ticket or in lieu of the ticket or the fine.

Um we have a resource closet.

Um it is literally a closet um that we have over at our office, and it is um chock full of um snacks and and food and um hygiene products and clothing and shoes and um water and backpacks and umbrellas, and you know, so any of our clients that um need anything there, uh we walk them back and they are able to kind of shop, you know, on their own.

Um well, with us there, obviously, but you know, they're able to look for um you know whatever they need.

Um one of the just two or three weeks ago, I think we had a client who was coming to uh the courthouse for a trial and and he didn't have any any clothing.

He was incarcerated, so we were able to um help him get dressed up and and be able to present himself um uh in a in a in the way that he wanted to present himself in in the courtroom.

Um so that was really nice.

Sergeant Burgos helped us out with that.

So that was uh yeah, it was a it was a good moment.

It was it was really powerful.

Um and then something for nothing, uh the last one on there, that is our our consumer awareness or anti-theft plus.

Um yeah.

Are the classes in person or virtual or both, or depending on the uh both, but a very small percentage are virtual at this point.

Um we we maintain the availability of virtual classes because um again, we want to meet clients where they are.

We don't want to you know create another barrier for them.

So the client that I spoke of earlier that lived down in Olympia, I think we did some virtual services for her.

Um the judges prefer the in-person, um, and but the judges are are certainly um amenable to to virtual if um you know if the client needs it.

So we um, you know, and and and just because somebody might live close doesn't mean they don't have you know that availability of the virtual service because um you know we realize that um the transportation might be an issue, even though they might live across the bridge in Seattle, it may be very, very difficult for them to get there.

So we kind of look at it on a case-by-case basis and and really you know talk to the client and um and you know meet them where they are, you know, to accommodate them.

So Bellevue Work Crew.

Um, this is our division's um community service, if you will.

Um it is an alternative to community service, but we do community service um within the city um through the work crew program.

Um it can also be uh done as an alternative to confinement.

you know meet them where they are you know to accommodate them so um bellevue work crew um this is our division's um community service if you will um it is an alternative to community service but we do community service um within the city um through the work crew program um it can also be uh done as an alternative to confinement um a lot of times clients might be ordered to uh complete two days in jail but the judge will allow them to work two days of of work crew um we partner with um a lot of the other parks divisions um around the city um quite literally the parks a lot of times is is where we go um but we do a lot of work at uh the blueberry farms at Kelsey Creek um Mercer Slough um Winter's house um everyone loves going to Kelsey Creek because I get to work with the animals um so um the work crew program is is something that has really I feel like benefited kind of everyone involved collectively you know because it does allow an opportunity for the clients to um to get their um community service obligations done but then it is also benefiting in many ways um the various parks entities and and of course the city as a whole um we do work crew every Wednesday and every Thursday so we are we we do it consistently um and that is one of the things a lot of times that clients give us feedback about unfortunately is that you know when they go out to to try to do community service on their own and it's completely understandable but they are not able to um you know fulfill their hours as quickly as they as they would like so we provide that um pretty much in any type of weather um we you know we continue doing it year round and you know if if there is you know inclement weather of course then we we do cancel or we try to find something indoors um uh for that but um the work crew program is again you know just this is really really really cool um we also do electronic home monitoring um at the at the pretrial level this is mostly um continuous alcohol monitoring um so it is done through the bracelet which is the uh transdermal alcohol device um so that does monitor alcohol use through or transdermally if you will um with the with the skin um and then we also have portable breath testing devices which is the um the handheld um that gives them a um like an alarm and they even get a text message I believe to um submit a a breadth sample at random times throughout the day um and then we also do electronic home monitoring as an alternative to confinement incarceration this is mostly post sentence um so once someone is sentenced to probation um then they um if if EHM is a requirement then they they have to fulfill those obligations and that of also is done with the bracelet so and it does have GPS um capabilities if if it's requested so um generally what the what the electronic home detention is doing is it's it's essentially home uh home incarceration if you will um but they are required to be at their home um but the judges do allow them to um fulfill obligations that they might have in the community like jobs and school and um grocery stores and you know picking up children from uh daycare or school um but we work very closely with the clients just to make sure that they you know stay in compliance with all of the all of the conditions and the rules um set forth by the by the judges um so diversity equity and and inclusion within our division um language access I kind of hit on this earlier but we um we do make sure that our clients have access to every program that we offer regardless of their primary language so we do that a lot with um the language line um and then also in-person interpretation services um and just as an example in compliance with with title six um last year um we were able to um and I don't think this is inclusive but uh we were able to offer services um in um Cantonese Farsi Mandarin Mongolian Romanian Russian uh Spanish Tegrenia and Vietnamese and and those were all in person um so we um you know we we take essentially what we have and and we work with an interpreter um to make sure that um the client is successful and connects you know uh with us um through an interpreter to complete um again whatever class you know it's not you know we only have it for these you know it's it's all of them so um diversity in our probation team uh we are a team of 12 individuals we have very diverse experiences um genders languages um and races um even with with a small group such as that um we do exit surveys for our clients who are are discharging off of probation um for them to be given an opportunity to provide any feedback um we look at um performance measures the statistical outcomes and the recidivism rates and so forth we do that every year

Uh we are a team of 12 individuals.

We have very diverse experiences, um, genders, languages, um, and races, um, even with with a small group such as that.

Um, we do exit surveys for our clients who are are discharging off of probation um for them to be given an opportunity to provide any feedback.

Um we look at um performance measures, the statistical outcomes and the recidivism rates and so forth.

We do that every year.

Um, and then of course we do ongoing training um as as much as we can, you know, because there's always um developments and the latest, you know, to to be to be trained in.

So we're um constantly looking for you know any opportunity that we can for for that ongoing training.

Um transitioning quickly um to community court.

Um this is again something that is super super super dear to my heart.

Um I spent the last 10 years of my career in Texas working with therapeutic courts.

And um I think probably from day three, I was asking Tony, you know, is there are there any treatment courts here, you know, and and then we did finally um I shouldn't say finally, but um we did uh get the with the assistance of King County get the community court up and running um earlier this year.

So um community court, um, just to clarify, it is a King County program.

Um it is the Bellevue Community Court, but it is um I guess sponsored or or run by um King County.

Um they have different community courts in the area, and and we were fortunate enough to um launch the one here in Bellevue um back in in July.

Um the steering committee started to meet back in February.

We were involved with that, and then we did have the launch date in July.

Um then we had an open house, I believe, in October.

Um it is held at the library here.

Um, and the presiding judge is um Judge O'Toole.

Uh, she is a King County District Court judge um who actually sits over at our courthouse.

So she is the um the East East Side Presiding Judge, yes, is her official title, but she is the one that that uh presides over community court as well.

Um so essentially community court is built on the foundation of being a meaningful alternative to the traditional court process.

Um its focus is to address underlying issues um that a client might be facing um to again remove as many of the barriers as possible for uh success moving forward.

Um the goal is to increase safety for all, including of course the um community members um and again enhancing that access to supportive services, accountability, and early intervention.

A lot of the community court clients that we see, um, it might be their their first offense or maybe their first offense in in a decade or two decades.

Um so it is that kind of that early intervention stepping in to make sure that um they are connected to to what they need um, you know, so that there is not recidivism later down the road.

Um and it is of course a deep collaboration between several community-based partners and um the criminal justice system, and I'll uh dive into that a little bit deeper here in a second.

Um it is a very collaborative model.

I think that's one of the most amazing things about, or one of the most amazing components of community court is the collaboration.

So it is um again a King County district court program.

Um, but we do collaborate, of course, with um, well, the city and then the community, and then um the King County library system, which has been just amazing um from day one.

Um everyone, of course, brings very unique perspectives, very unique resources um and strengths.

And you know, in doing that, we're able to provide a more restorative approach to justice.

Um and you know, just you know, physically the library being where it's at is uh is a huge strength because it's just down the road from the transit center, and you know, it's it's very centrally located.

Um they have a great space, and I mean it's it the library is just welcoming overall.

So um it's been a really nice um space.

And and that is one of the um, I guess primary components, I guess, of community court anywhere is that it's at it's held at a location outside of the courthouse or outside of the courtroom.

Um and I think most of them in this area are at libraries.

Um so we were fortunate that um the one here uh had the you know availability and space to um to work with us on this one as well.

Um City of Bellevue involvement specifically, um the you know uh deputy city manager Genesee Atkins from the city manager's office was instrumental in and and worked with us uh from the beginning um on the steering committee.

Um the Bellevue Police Department um continues or they you know started with this and they continue.

Um they provide security um at the library um week after week after week, um never never an absence of the police department, which is incredible.

It's it just the presence just shows such an incredible dedication and passion for uh for what's going on.

Uh the city attorney's office um works very closely with the with the courts and the public defense team uh for you know to bring in clients to process referrals to investigate referrals and so forth.

Um the homelessness outreach program or the outreach team that is here in the city of Bellevue.

Um they too are there every week.

And um, I will say they are probably um one of the most visited um resource tables at the at the resource center.

Um and I think they've been able to make um quite a few connections just in that in that one location um since we've been there uh starting in July.

Um and then of course the the probation division.

Um we again were have been an active partner since the beginning um, you know, on the steering committee.

Um we are able to offer participants access again to all of our classes, to you know, the different skill building programs that we have, um, any support services, you know, that clients might need.

Um one of the most popular from the probation division has been the work crew program.

Um they, as part of their community court agreement, do have to do community service, and a lot of them almost all of them, I believe, that have had to do community service have done it with us uh through the work crew.

Um and again, there's that appreciation for the consistency and the routine, you know, not having to go out and and find it on their own.

They can uh you know, come over and see me at the resource center.

We get them signed up.

A lot of times they go the very next day to get their one day done, and then they satisfy that condition.

So quickly, just the community court participants.

Um, as I mentioned earlier, um, the clients are approved by the city prosecutor from the uh city attorney's office.

Um it is um tailored or you know, only those pretty you know non-violent misdemeanor cases are the ones that are eligible for community court um different offenses such as um trespassing, disorderly conduct, theft, um drug possession, you know, those types of offenses are what we see in there.

Um driving related cases, so like your DUIs, your reckless drivings, um, and domestic violence cases are not eligible for for community court.

So, and that is that is the the current offense.

It doesn't necessarily capture uh the history.

Um, but that is you know, the the current, you know, offense that they're being referred for.

Um benefits of community court, of course, to the clients.

Um it is an alternative problem-solving approach to the traditional court process, again, that really really focuses on you know any underlying concerns or underlying issues or underlying needs that they have.

So it's a it's it's you know, when I say group effort, is certainly a group effort of of many participants.

Um, and and the focus is of course on the client and that early intervention um in getting them connected to what they need.

Um it is of course also a benefit to Bellevue residents.

Um it enhances there's that public safety component.

Um, you know, we address the low-level offenses through the the different problem solving and you know restorative approach.

Um, and it does, you know, give clients the opportunity again to maintain that sense of continuity in their community in their home in their job and school, you know, and so forth.

Um and then benefits overall to to city operations.

Um it does uh, you know, in many ways reduce future involvement in the in the criminal justice system, which is a plus.

Um it does uh, you know, in many ways reduce future involvement in the in the criminal justice system, which is a plus, um, and it does allow for you know cross-department coordination with with the different partners, you know, not only within the city of Bellevue, but also, you know, with all of the external partners again, King County, um, the library system, um, and all of the providers that come um to the resource center.

Um, and then finally, the community resource center itself.

Um, I have a lot of favorite things, but again, this is another one of my favorite things.

Um, the resource center is uh held in conjunction.

It is a component of community court.

Um, it is um every it's now Thursday.

We we did have community court on Tuesdays, but it's now transitioning to Thursday starting this Thursday.

Um, but every week from 130 to 330, um, the resource center is set up.

And again, it is happening simultaneous to community court itself.

Um one of the very best things about the community resource center, aside from all of the obvious benefits, is that it is available for any resident um of the community, not just those who are in community court.

So anyone um can come into the library, can you know, uh, get connected with a with a navigator, and that navigator helps them to you know find the resources um that they that they are in need of.

Um so again, just to you know, just to kind of heighten that up.

I mean, that is a very important point that I I hope a lot of people aren't misunderstanding out in the community, but I I think we should continue to you know share that message that it is for anyone and not just community court participants.

So um they, you know, again, you can see the slide here.

Um, food, um, the Salvation Army Um has literal um hot lunches that are sent over to the resource center every week.

Um, so people come in and are able to get food um not only for themselves but for their children, um, for their grandchildren for anyone in their family.

Um health care, like I said earlier, the housing, um, the homelessness outreach team is there.

Um, a lot of people have gotten um health insurance uh at the resource center um through that connection, um, mental health and substance use services, um, programming such as what we offer, um, transportation.

Um, a lot of people will come in and um they're able to get bus passes on the spot or they're able to get an ORCA card um, you know, that they that helps them.

Um they also offer virtual services at the community resource center.

So if somebody's not able to actually make it to the resource center, they can they can dial in, if you will, and and speak to a provider virtually.

Um, and then there's just you know, so many other, you know, just essential resources.

And again, um, you know, just to highlight, I think one of the one of the keys is um, you know, that central location at the library because it has really been um you know just incredible to see the amount of people that come through um and that are able to to access it, that are able to get there and not have um, you know, again, another barrier that is that is put before them um, you know, because they don't have you know their own reliable transportation.

Um yeah, it's just it's it's been wonderful, and I know that it will continue to be uh I know that it will continue to expand and grow.

Um, and you know, more and more people will will benefit from from it being there.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

Or do uh defendants have to go to Seattle or the court hearings.

So we so Bellevue doesn't have its own municipal court, but there is a courthouse, which is um down in the Bellfield office part, um the I said the the southern end of town the other day, but somebody was like, no, that's not the southern end of town.

So I'm still learning.

Um, but it's it's south of downtown.

Yes, it's it's just past all of the the hotels and and all of that.

I don't know what else is over there.

Umitants, the coffee shop is over there.

Um yeah, but it's it's that is the that is the courthouse, and that is where the the two King County judges that are assigned to Bellevue.

Um that's where they where they work from.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

True.

If someone is on probation or completed probation work, does that show up on a background check for employment?

It so it depends.

I'm still I'm still learning, and you might be able to help with those too, but um not to put you on the spot.

But I'm still learning.

I was actually talking to a client about this today.

Um so a lot of our um there's there's different types of supervision.

So there's what they call a judgment and sentence, which is a a conviction or a finding of guilt.

Um, there's also a deferred sentence, um, where they essentially enter into an agreement, like through a court order.

Um, and if they complete everything successfully, they will then sentence the case once it's done, and it's oftentimes a lesser sentence in what they would have originally gotten, perhaps.

Um there's deferred prosecutions where the you know, again, the same kind of contract or court order, um, and if they are successful, if clients are successful, the the prosecutor's office will not even prosecute.

Um and then there's also an SOC, which is a stipulated order of continuance.

Um, so that is essentially just staying the proceedings, basically.

But there's that again, that contract or that court order that oftentimes if they complete that it's um dismissed.

So I say all of that to share that, you know, I a lot of times charges are dismissed.

Um, but that doesn't mean they fall off the record immediately, you know, and and you know, that's always been one of the unfortunate things about um, you know, even I mean it's it's it's incredible to have uh uh a charge dismissed, um, but a lot of people don't go down that far on the background check if if that makes sense, they just see that that arrest, and you know, that's that's where it stops.

Um, and I think that that's one of those kind of economic barriers that a lot of our clients face is because they they they can't get jobs.

They you know, they um might have you know been in a job for 10 years, but then they get an uh you know, some sort of an offense, and you know, they can't even return to what they were doing before, you know, because of the the new charge.

Um I always encourage um clients that I that I talk to and that I work with who are doing job applications to like really really read what it says, right?

Um uh a lot of applications say, have you ever been arrested for an offense?

And of course, you know, anyone who comes through our doors would have to truthfully and ethically say, Yes, I have been arrested for you know, whatever offense.

Um a lot of applications, the client I was talking to today, for example, um, his application asked, have you had a conviction for?

But he is on one of those stipulated order of continuance.

Um, so he and I smile because it's it's you don't want to lead them in the wrong direction, but he technically has not been convicted of an offense at this point, even though he has been on probation.

But I I am no lawyer, you know, so I often encourage them to talk to their you know attorneys and and get feedback on that.

Um there is, and again, I'm I haven't been in Washington long enough to know how the process works, but there is um the ability to get offenses removed or to get you know records sealed.

Um a lot of times though, that doesn't mean that they're gone, you know, from every space, you know, they're a lot of times still there.

Um, and employers oftentimes will do kind of a level of background check that's closer to what even we do, you know, in the criminal justice system.

Um, so it's that kind of stuff is still there.

So I think the again, you know, just encouraging clients to to speak with their attorneys and you know, really, really, really read the fine print um of you know the application or whatever they're filling out um to see what it's asking, and then also um just to be honest and open, you know, because a lot of times we've had clients who were you know open about it and the employer was willing to give them a chance and they've worked there for five or ten years, you know what I mean?

So the biggest difference between community court and regular court is uh the judge and the court officers help kind of guide the defendant into resources to address uh uh underline root issues.

So I I I think it's I think in that situation with that question, it's beneficial to say that that both the probation division and community court do the same thing.

And you know, as far as guiding them to resources and services and treatment, um, regardless of you know, whether they're on probation or in community court.

I think one of the biggest differences is that it is a um or a couple of the bigger differences with community court is that they're not reporting to a probation officer.

Um they're not making the that monthly contact, they are only reporting to community court um once a week.

Um so it's it's a more I guess judicially involved type of process versus probation.

So over on the probation side, they're coming to see us once a month or again, however often they um are required to come in.

Um whereas with community court, it's kind of an earlier intervention to where they um you know they they meet with a judge on a weekly basis, and and sometimes, and I didn't share this in the in the presentation, but um they might have their um clients who have come through community court might have their case resolved in about three months.

Um so it's very quick.

It's it's very in fact, I don't think they offer any higher than four months, I think is the kind of the target.

So a lot of them um, you know, they they um display and present that that early progress and that early completion.

And so they are um essentially into community court and then out.

So that's kind of I would say the biggest difference would be like the reporting and then also the level of judicial involvement.

Yeah.

Yeah, the reason that I asked is uh it sounds like there's a lot more resources and a lot more guys into community court.

Yes.

And I'm killing uh why we don't also do that for other crimes at the higher level, sure.

And it's yeah, yeah.

No, I love that.

And I I really I appreciate that immensely.

Um I I think just by design, that's what community court is.

Um we have um since community court started up and since a resource center started up, we have um advertised it for our clients as well.

Um and you know, so we because they are residents or you know, members of the community, so they are also of course eligible to go over to the resource center um every week if they need to.

Um but yeah, I would love I I think short answer would be just staff capacity, like we don't have the capacity, unfortunately, to do all of the things that um you know might be offered or provided at the at the resource center.

Um believing me, if if I could and if Tony would let me, I would have all of it over at the probation division, but right, yeah, Tony would not say no for sure, but it would it would be a funding um you know thought, of course.

But um, but yeah, I I think that's again just to highlight the the so many benefits of the resource center is that it is you know a service for all.

Um so even though you know clients may not be in community court, we can still say, you know, hey, go over to the library on Thursday at 1.30 and go to this table and you know, see if you can get help with you know getting health insurance or something.

So yeah.

Awesome.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you for that.

How are you able to not have the resources?

Um, how are you able to have them free since last or since August 2024?

So we you want to help?

It's been so long since we're absolutely because it's exciting.

So um uh as we came into our budget process for 25 and 26, of course, you have to look at all of your revenue sources, you have to look at all of your costs.

Um, and after doing some data analysis, we realized it was costing the city more to collect fees than what we were bringing in.

Um so between the staffing time um and the investment in um some full-time staff that were in charge of that, uh, and we do serve an increasing number of clients um that are living in poverty.

And so even before we charged on a sliding scale.

Charging does not mean that people can pay.

And so when we were charging, a significant number of our clients would leave with debt that they owed towards us, which is challenging both for them and for the city.

The city, you know, it was anticipating the revenue and clients are left who are obviously already struggling and now they have debt and perhaps debt collection happening.

So when when uh you know business numbers demonstrated this is costing us money to do this, um, it was approved to say then let's not cost ourselves money to do that anymore, with a recognition of the equity impacts that that would have for our clients as well.

And it does all of the um, and Tony always shares that so eloquently, so I wanted to make sure she to give her the chance to, but it it all of our services do come from our our internal budget or our division budget, and I think it's the general fund um that it comes out of from the city.

But yeah, a huge, huge, huge barrier was removed um with that.

So any other questions?

No.

Uh thank you so much, Craig.

Thank you so much for being here.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

Yeah, we're just going straight to the reminders now.

My goodness.

Um, as a reminder, our next meeting is on Monday, January 26th.

The next day, January 27th, the commission's funding recommendations go to city council for discussion and approval.

The chair will be representing the commission and all commissioners are welcome.

You know.

Let me add that to my counter right now.

Um and anything else for the good of the group?

No.

Okay.

Well, this concludes our meeting, and we are adjourning at let's see, 7.15.

Oh, there you go.

Thank you.