REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

BOARD MEETING DATE:  June  19, 2018
CATEGORY:  Consent - Law and Justice-10.

SUBJECT:

First Amendment to the Agreement with Victor Community Support Services, Inc. for Aggression Replacement Training

Supervisorial District No. :  ALL

DEPARTMENT CONTACT:  Tracie Neal, Chief Probation Officer, (530) 245-6200

STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY:  Tracie Neal, Chief Probation Officer

RECOMMENDATION

Approve and authorize the Chairman to sign a retroactive amendment, effective June 1, 2018, to the agreement with Victor Community Support Services, Inc. to increase the maximum compensation by $100,000 to a new maximum compensation of $150,000 to provide Aggression Replacement Training, retaining the term of the agreement through June 30, 2017, with two automatic one-year renewals.

SUMMARY

Victor Community Support Services (VCSS) currently provides Aggression Replacement Training (ART) to adult and juvenile offenders referred by the Probation Department. This amendment will allow the Probation Department to continue to utilize these services until the agreement terminates June 30, 2019.

DISCUSSION

ART is an evidence-based cognitive behavioral intervention program to help individuals improve social skills competence and moral reasoning, better manage anger, and reduce aggressive behavior. The program consists of 10 weeks (30 sessions) of intervention training, and is divided into three components—social skills training, anger-control training, and training in moral reasoning. Referred offenders attend a one-hour session in each of these components each week. Incremental learning, reinforcement techniques, and guided group discussions enhance skill acquisition and reinforce the lessons in the curriculum.

Criminogenic needs are characteristics, traits, problems, or issues of an individual that directly relate to the individual’s likelihood to re-offend and commit another crime. Referrals to the program are based on the criminogenic needs of the offender, which are determined by evidence-based assessments.

As of April 30, 2018, nine adults and 41 juveniles have been served by the program. Due to one of Probation's internally trained ART instructors leaving the department, additional groups under this agreement need to be added and the maximum compensation of the agreement needs to be increased to accommodate this change. This amendment is retroactive due to additional processing time to calculate compensation needed, as well as projecting compensation needs for FY 2018-19 to cover the services for youth and the addition of services for adults.

ALTERNATIVES

The Board could decide not to approve the amendment or could request changes to the terms and conditions of the amendment.

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

The County Administrative Office has reviewed the recommendation. County Counsel has approved the amendment as to form. There are no modifications to insurance or indemnity; therefore Risk Management review is not applicable.

FINANCING

There are sufficient funds appropriated in the FY 2017-18 Adopted Budget and FY 2018-19 Requested Budget. There is no additional General Fund impact associated with this recommendation.