Okay.

Welcome to business session.

Our first item is approval of minutes from business session of August 13th.

Is there a motion?

Second.

Moved and seconded the item be approved.

All in favor any game by saying aye.

All opposed.

Motion passes.

Community safety update.

Come one, come all right.

So that's right.

Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor and Council Members.

I am Diana Knapp, Director of the Department of Community Safety.

With me in the council chamber today is Deputy Director Megan Case, Deputy Director Lucas Castalleja, Public Safety Task Force Director Joe Williamson, and our senior leadership team.

Today you will hear from our consultants who have been working in collaboration to bring you an overview of the recommended system, and you will hear from our colleagues in finance regarding construction and operational costs and these planned initiatives for the Department of Community Safety.

We are excited and enthusiastic to be here at this pivotal moment, creating a system of treatment and accountability that incorporates restorative justice principles and no longer relies on detention as a behavioral health backstop in the city.

The Front Street Facility Project, which includes the standing up of an entire department, has proceeded with unprecedented progress.

Over a few short weeks, we've been able to assemble an amazing, overwhelmingly qualified leadership team to a person.

They joined this team because of their excitement about putting in place the system that you all envisioned.

What an opportunity.

First, you will hear from Dr.

Timmy about the system we are building, the reasons why, and how the future DOCS supports a safer and healthier Kansas City.

Then you will hear specifically about the detention rehabilitation center, the DRC, and its development in the design phase, followed by the Community Resource Center, CRC, which now has a completed architectural program and a team ready and eager to begin design.

Finance will then provide cost information before we turn things over to Council for your questions.

I now turn over to Dr.

Robin Timmy.

Thank you, Director Knapp.

Honorable Mayor, members of council, City Manager Vasquez.

My name is Dr.

Robin Timmy with Falcon Correctional and Community Services.

I'm a clinical psychologist, board certified in forensic psychology, and I've been working with a team of diligent experts for about the last 14 months, building a system, not just planning facility or facilities to expand access to care and break the cycle of recidivism for people who violate city ordinances.

The integration between these two projects is unusual, but it's particularly meaningful because of the complementary nature of the projects to build a system that obviously streamlines public safety in Kansas City.

We're always working toward making Kansas City a center of excellence.

By thinking systemically, recognizing the unique needs of this population, envisioning a safer and healthy Kansas City through principles of restorative justice.

The team has grown significantly as the city established a Department of Community Safety led by an executive team with unmatched credentials in modern approaches to public safety, an ACM, a director, deputy director is perfectly qualified for this innovative system.

We always ground our understanding of the specific population we are discussing in who they are and what they need.

These are people who are at risk of violating municipal ordinances, people who have violated municipal ordinances, and who repeatedly cycle through a system that has been relatively ineffective.

State crimes, we must remember, including misdemeanors and felonies, processed through the state system, and detention services are provided at the county level.

The most common ordinance violations that we see in the population include trespassing, domestic violence assault, and disorderly conduct, all under the jurisdiction of the municipal court with sentences up to 180 days, which become 120 after good time.

Ordinance violations are not victimless.

But what excites us is that in this population, we can identify the services people need to desist from these behaviors in the future, and those services can be provided at the least restrictive level, required to return people to the community safer and healthier than when they were arrested.

And this is done through a continuum of treatment and accountability.

A system that includes two facilities providing opportunities for prevention, deflection, diversion, in custody treatment and programs, and community reintegration and restoration.

The community resource center provides community-based voluntary and out of custody screening, assessment, treatment, and community linkages, able to accept walk-in referrals, law enforcement assisted diversion, post-arrest diversion, and re-entry services for those whose clinical and social services are best addressed outside of a detention setting.

And the detention and rehabilitation center provides a similar continuum of care and services, but in a secure and rehabilitative detention setting, optimizing the time a person spends separated from the general public and eliminating what we call dead time, creating individualized and restorative pathways that set people up for success.

So when we take these facilities and we overlay them on what's known as the sequential intercept model, the throughput that reflects a person's journey across municipal systems of public health and public safety, we see how these facilities complement one another.

Two components of one system.

On the left side of your screen is where somebody may enter the justice system or be diverted from it.

And so the police we spoke with want more options here.

They want alternatives to detention, a better menu of services at their disposal to address public safety through public health initiatives.

The municipal courts decided to have options for justice involved individuals, a better menu of services for them at their disposal to address public safety through public health initiatives.

And on the back end, for those who know release dates, the DRC will develop individualized release plans, but for those who are released unexpectedly or unplanned, the CRC is the soft landing that provides opportunities for service linkage before returning to the community.

And so we're excited to share with you today the progress on both of these facilities, complementary parts of a whole system, beginning with the progress on moving from the temporary detention and rehabilitation center to the permanent DRC, capable of bringing all people who violate municipal ordinances back to Kansas City community.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Andy Pitts from Trainer to provide an update.

Thank you, Dr.

Timmy.

Again, I'm Andy Pitts, principal architect with Trainer, and we're pleased to be here today to provide you an update on the DRC.

But before we get to the DRC, I wanted to update on some of the other projects that happened at the Front Street site.

I'm pleased to report that last week the modular detention center received its temporary occupancy permit.