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Record of Proceedings

Tacoma City Council Study Session on Therapeutic Courts – April 22, 2025

City Council Study Session — Tuesday, April 22, 2025
BodyTacoma, Washington
SessionCity Council Study Session
DateTuesday, April 22, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:40:39

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

I'd like to call to order the study session of April 22nd, 2025.

0:07

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

0:09

Councilmember Bushnell.

0:10

Present.

0:11

Councilmember Daniels.

0:12

Or sorry, Deputy Mayor Daniels.

0:14

Here.

0:14

Councilmember Diaz.

0:15

Councilmember Hines.

0:17

Absent.

0:18

Councilmember Rumba here.

0:19

Council Member Sidalgay.

0:21

Councilmember Scott.

0:22

Councilmember Walker.

0:24

Here.

0:24

Mayor Woodards.

0:26

Here.

0:26

The study session material is sent to you at 11.

0:29

All right.

0:31

We have one change to the agenda.

0:33

The executive session scheduled to discuss pending litigation has been moved to the April 29th, 2025 study session.

0:40

Our first agenda item is therapeutic municipal to coma municipal therapeutic courts.

0:45

And I've got to call on Tacoma Municipal Court, Judge Drew Hankey to begin the presentation.

0:51

So thank you.

0:52

Thank you.

0:53

Well, I would like to thank the council for allowing us to come and present to you today.

0:58

What I would like to do is turn it over to our new presiding judge.

1:03

He's not a new judge, but he's new presiding.

1:05

Uh Judge Krupa.

1:07

Hey.

1:08

Good afternoon.

1:10

Thanks, everybody.

1:11

Yep.

1:12

Thanks everybody for having us here.

1:15

Can you put it down to you?

1:17

It's down.

1:18

There we go.

1:19

Anyway, what I did was I put my cards up there behind your uh by your chairs.

1:24

Okay, and I got my I think all of you have my cell number already, but I put my cell number on the back.

1:30

Well, we're looking forward to giving you this presentation.

1:33

Uh and there's so many things happening with our court.

1:36

In fact, uh we're having the uh uh day Friday when all the uh therapeutic courts are gonna come to Tacoma in the uh vicinity, and uh we're gonna put on a presentation, or these wonderful judges are gonna put on a presentation for them.

1:53

So again, thank you.

1:54

And I just wanted to say uh as presiding judge, feel free to call me anytime.

1:59

All right, and also other thing is let me know when you want to have your state of the court address.

2:06

I'd like to get that on the calendar.

2:08

Try to do that as soon as we can, uh, early summer if possible.

2:12

That's all I got.

2:14

Thanks.

2:15

Well, no, you have to answer a question.

2:17

What is the state of the court?

2:18

State of the court.

2:19

You don't remember the last state of the court, state of the court is when we come down here and tell you all about the great things that we're doing in Tacoma Municipal Court.

2:27

These are part of the great things that we're doing, but there's so many more things that we want to tell you about.

2:33

Wonderful things that we're doing uh to uh you know make our city great.

2:39

Love it.

2:39

We're here for you.

2:41

Thank you.

2:48

Right, yeah.

2:49

All right.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████78%
Court Support Services█████8%
Mental Health Awareness█████8%
Community Engagement██4%
Federal Funding█1%
Public Safety█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Tacoma City Council Study Session on Therapeutic Courts – April 22, 2025

The Tacoma City Council held a study session on April 22, 2025, beginning at 12:00 PM. The primary agenda item was a presentation from Tacoma Municipal Court judges on the city's therapeutic courts (Mental Health Court and Community Court). The council also noted a change moving the executive session to April 29 and received the city manager's weekly report.

Discussion Items

  • Therapeutic Courts Presentation: Judges Drew Henke (Mental Health Court) and Dee Sonntag (Community Court) presented program updates, data, and participant feedback. Key data points:
    • Mental Health Court (June 2023 – December 2024): 25 referrals, 12 declined, 8 entered, 2 graduations (later updated to 3), 6 active participants. 100% of graduates had no new charges. 25% of participants incurred new charges while in the program; 40% of those new charges were dismissed by the prosecutor.
    • Community Court (October 2023 – December 2024): 155 referrals, 56 declined, 41 entries, 13 graduations, 1 participant death. Updated to date: 227 referrals, 65 entries, 44 current participants, 78 pending referrals, 21 graduations. 92% of graduates had no new charges. 100% of graduates reported feeling treated fairly.
    • Participants' quotes highlighted a supportive, non-judgmental environment and desire to continue treatment.
    • Funding: State grants fund two full-time staff; a federal grant funds a part-time case manager and a partnership with University of Washington Tacoma to validate the risk-needs assessment tool.
    • Judges emphasized collaboration with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and case managers, and noted plans to host a therapeutic court summit on April 25, 2025.
  • Council Questions and Comments:
    • Councilmember Rumba asked for clarification on charge definitions and the

Meeting Transcript

I'd like to call to order the study session of April 22nd, 2025. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Bushnell. Present. Councilmember Daniels. Or sorry, Deputy Mayor Daniels. Here. Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Hines. Absent. Councilmember Rumba here. Council Member Sidalgay. Councilmember Scott. Councilmember Walker. Here. Mayor Woodards. Here. The study session material is sent to you at 11. All right. We have one change to the agenda. The executive session scheduled to discuss pending litigation has been moved to the April 29th, 2025 study session. Our first agenda item is therapeutic municipal to coma municipal therapeutic courts. And I've got to call on Tacoma Municipal Court, Judge Drew Hankey to begin the presentation. So thank you. Thank you. Well, I would like to thank the council for allowing us to come and present to you today. What I would like to do is turn it over to our new presiding judge. He's not a new judge, but he's new presiding. Uh Judge Krupa. Hey. Good afternoon. Thanks, everybody. Yep. Thanks everybody for having us here. Can you put it down to you? It's down. There we go. Anyway, what I did was I put my cards up there behind your uh by your chairs. Okay, and I got my I think all of you have my cell number already, but I put my cell number on the back. Well, we're looking forward to giving you this presentation. Uh and there's so many things happening with our court. In fact, uh we're having the uh uh day Friday when all the uh therapeutic courts are gonna come to Tacoma in the uh vicinity, and uh we're gonna put on a presentation, or these wonderful judges are gonna put on a presentation for them. So again, thank you. And I just wanted to say uh as presiding judge, feel free to call me anytime. All right, and also other thing is let me know when you want to have your state of the court address. I'd like to get that on the calendar. Try to do that as soon as we can, uh, early summer if possible. That's all I got. Thanks. Well, no, you have to answer a question.

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