Approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding with Shasta County Superior Court regarding the Recidivism Reduction Fund Court Grant Program increasing maximum compensation by $31,066 (for a new maximum compensation of $349,276), adding the provision of Supervising Probation Officer supervision, and retaining the term of April 1, 2015 through April 30, 2017.

Shasta County and the Shasta County Superior Court entered into the original agreement, executed by the Board of Supervisors, on April 19, 2016, with a term from April 1, 2015 through April 30, 2017 and a maximum compensation of $318,210 over the entire term of the agreement. The original agreement funded one full time Probation Assistant and one full time Deputy Probation Officer III. This amendment will allow the Probation Department to be reimbursed for supervision hours contributed by a Supervising Probation Officer.

The Supervised Own Recognizance (SOR) Program was implemented in 2013 to assist with reducing the jail population and a rapid increase in the number of offenders failing to appear in court for hearings. After reviewing the progress of the program it was felt that the program was missing a number of offenders who would benefit from supervised release. To that end, the Superior Court of California applied for the Recidivism Reduction Fund Court Grant to expand the existing Supervised Own Recognizance Program to assess and place offenders on the program pre-arraignment during the weekends and holidays by working with the on-call judge. The goals remain the same.

Incorporated into the grant is funding for one full time Probation Assistant (PA) and one full time Deputy Probation Officer III (DPO) who assess qualifying offenders booked into the jail by utilizing the Virginia Pre-trial Risk Assessment Instrument (VPRAI) for the Pre-Arraignment Supervised Own Recognizance (PSOR) Program. Recommendations are sent to the on-call judge who makes the final determination of who will be released onto PSOR. Offenders could be released with a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) monitor secured to their ankle.

At the beginning of Fiscal Year 2016/17, the Superior Court was notified that additional grant dollars became available and was asked if there was a need. The Court said that there was because funding for supervision of the PA and DPO by a Supervising Probation Officer (SPO) was not initially incorporated into the grant. After reviewing the hours the SPO spent working with the program, it was determined that reimbursement for up to 20% of the SPO’s available work hours, effective as of July 1, 2016 would be appropriate. The funding dollars were granted for this need and this amendment will allow for the Probation Department to be reimbursed for these hours.