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Home My WebLink AboutJefferson County - Interlocal Agreement for District Court & Indigent Defense Services 2018-2020INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR DISTRICT COURT SERVICES AND INDIGENT DEFENSE SERVICES BETWEEN JEFFERSON COUNTY AND THE CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND 2018-2020 THIS AGREEMENT is entered into by and between JEFFERSON COUNTY ("COUNTY,") and the CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND ("CITY.") RECITALS 1. COUNTY and CITY wish to enter into an agreement for City Municipal Court services to be provided through Jefferson County District Court and for indigent defense services to be provided through the County's contracted provider. 2. The COUNTY and the CITY wish to set the level of compensation pursuant to an interlocal agreement between the CITY and the COUNTY as provided for in Chapter 39.34 RCW, the Interlocal Cooperation Act, at a mutually acceptable fee; AGREEMENT GENERAL 1.1 Eurms•. The purpose of this agreement is to provide the CITY with Municipal Court services through the COUNTY'S District Court, to provide indigent defense services to defendants in cases filed by the City, and to establish fees to be paid by the CITY for infractions and for criminal actions filed in the Jefferson County District Court for non -felony violations of state or local law. 1.2 Administration. The administration of the terms of this agreement shall be done in the same manner and by the same agency and agents as now administer Municipal Court services in Jefferson County District Court. For purposes of contract administration, the agent for the COUNTY shall be the District Court Administrator and the agent for the CITY shall be the City Manager. 1.3 Property. This agreement does not provide for the acquisition, holding, or disposal of real personal property. 1.4 Financicia Under this Agreement, the CITY contracts with the COUNTY for certain services, and as such, there shall be no financing or any joint or cooperative undertaking pursuant to this agreement. There shall be no budget maintained for any joint or cooperative undertaking pursuant to this agreement. Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 1 of 9 1.5 Contract Review. The CITY and COUNTY may schedule meetings including court, prosecution, probation, and support staff, as mutually agreed, to discuss operational issues. 1.6 Indemnity.., COUNTY agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold the CITY harmless from and against any claim, demand, action, or suit arising from the COUNTY'S negligent supervision of misdemeanor defendants or probationers under this agreement except where the COUNTY and CITY are jointly negligent or the CITY is exclusively negligent. COUNTY further agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold the CITY harmless from and against any claim, demand, action, or suit arising from the provision of indigent defense services by the COUNTY's contracted provider. In executing this agreement, the COUNTY does not assume liability or responsibility for or in any way release the CITY from any liability or responsibility arising in whole or in part from the existence or effect of CITY ordinances, rules, or regulations. If any cause, claim, suit, action or administrative proceeding is commenced in which the enforceability and/or validity of any such CITY ordinance, rule, or regulation is at issue, the CITY shall defend such ordinance, rule, or regulation at its sole expense. If judgment concerning the enforceability and/or validity of any such CITY ordinance, rule, or regulation is entered or damages are awarded against the CITY, the COUNTY, or both, the CITY shall satisfy the same, including all chargeable costs and attorney's fees. Each party agrees to defend, indemnify, and to hold the other party harmless from any claims directly resulting from such party's sole negligence and from actions or omissions that are solely attributable to any employee, official, agent of such party. To the extent there is joint negligence, the parties shall be jointly responsible as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. The terms of Section 1.6 "Indemnity" shall survive the termination or expiration of this agreement. 2. FEES 2.1 Annual Fee. The CITY agrees to pay annual fees to cover their pro -rata share of the applicable costs of running District Court ("court"), as follows: The annual fee shall be determined by calculating three (3) year rolling totals of District Court cases and applying the formula described herein to those rolling totals. Firstly, the COUNTY will calculate the 3 -year, rolling total number of all cases filed with the court in each of the 3 most recent, full years, Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 2 of 9 which total will be used in calculating the City's share of direct court costs and security costs for District Court. Second, the COUNTY will calculate the 3 -year, rolling total number of all cases excluding infractions filed with the court in each of the 3 most recent, full years, which total will be used in calculating the City's share of indigent defense costs for District Court. Third, the County will also calculate the 3 -year rolling total number of those "cases filed by the CITY" as that term is defined elsewhere in this Section. For the purpose of allocating the District Court's direct expenditures plus its security costs, the CITY's percentage of all cases filed shall be computed by dividing the number of cases filed by the CITY over the last three years (numerator) by the number of all cases filed by all entities in District Court over the last three years (denominator). The CITY's percentage of all cases shall be applied against the next year's "budgeted District Court direct expenditures" plus security costs for the court as shown in Exhibit 1. For the purpose of allocating the District Court's indigent defense expenditures, the CITY's percentage of all cases filed excluding infractions cases shall be computed by dividing the number of cases filed by the CITY over the last three years (numerator) by the number of all cases excluding infractions filed by all entities in District Court over the last three years (denominator). The CITY's percentage of all cases excluding infractions shall be applied against the next year's indigent defense costs for District Court, as shown in Exhibit 1. Exhibit 2 gives an example, of how the annual fee for 2017 would be based on the 2017 estimated budgeted District Court applicable expenditures and the CITY's percentage of cases filed in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The annual fee shall be paid in three installments the first of fifty percent (50%) and the remaining 2 of twenty-five percent (25%), 1 St payment paid by the end of the second quarter no later than June 30. Remaining two payments paid no later than, September 30, and December 31 of each year. "Cases filed" means all cases filed in the court, including, civil, harassment, small claims, criminal and infractions. "Cases filed" shall be based on the published caseload statistics that are published yearly from Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). "Cases filed by the City" means all infractions written by the City Police Department and all misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charges filed against suspect or suspects by any attorney employed by or acting as an agent of the City. "Cases filed by the City" shall be based on the published caseload statistics that are published yearly from Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 3 of 9 "Budgeted District Court direct expenditures" means total program costs, less state and federal grants and remittances as shown on Exhibit 1. The 'Budgeted District Court direct expenditures" does not include courtroom security, facilities and information services costs, administrative overhead or similar costs. If actual costs are higher or lower by more than 2% from the "budgeted District Court direct expenditures," the parties agree to equitably adjust the cost for the year, pursuant to Paragraph 2.3, below. Costs recovered pursuant to RCW 10.01.160 shall be remitted to the jurisdiction based on the filing that resulted in the costs being ordered, except as provided in Paragraph 2.2 (i.e. court- ordered probation costs shall be used to fund probation services and shall be in addition to those funds provided in RCW 3.62.050). All fines and forfeitures generated by CITY -fled cases shall be deposited with the CITY, 2.2 (c isrlc[ty c "egalties, and other 17ees. As provided for in RCW 3.62.020(1), all costs, fees, fines, forfeitures and penalties assessed and collected in whole or in part by district courts, except costs, fines, forfeitures and penalties assessed and collected, in whole or in part, because of the violation of city ordinances, shall be retained by the County in accordance with state law, As provided for in RCW 3.62.040(1), all costs, fines, forfeitures and penalties assessed and collected, in whole or in part, by district courts because of violations of city ordinances shall be remitted by the clerk of the district court at least monthly directly to the CITY's Finance Department. Probation fees levied and collected by the court shall be retained by the COUNTY. The CITY shall, as allowed by law, actively seek court-ordered imposition of probation fees paid by the defendant when probation services are ordered. Revenues raised under this section shall be used to fund probation services and shall be in addition to those funds provided in RCW 3.62.050. The City agrees it will not perform any supervision of pre-trial agreements or contract for that service. The City may supervise or contract for supervision of pre -filing agreements. 2.3 Annual Fee Calculation and Schedule. Fees shall be calculated annually based on the formula described in 2.1 and pursuant to the procedure below: On or before July 31 of each year preceding a contract year, the COUNTY shall provide a written notice to the CITY of projected budgeted District Court direct expenditures for the next year, and the projected number of "Filings" in District Court for the third calendar year of the three-year average, including the percentage of those Filings projected to be "cases fled by the CITY", and said estimates will be entered into the annual fee and quarterly payment computation Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 4 of 9 described in Section 2.1 in order to estimate for budgeting purposes what the CITY will likely pay in the next calendar year. No payments will be made by the CITY based on this estimate. On or before June 1 of each contract year, the COUNTY will compile and send to the CITY actual statistics on Filings and "cases filed by the CITY" for the prior calendar year (the third year of the three-year rolling average), and said actual statistics will be entered into the annual fee and quarterly payment computation described in Section 2.1 as the CITY'S actual annual fee, said fee to be paid by the CITY to the COUNTY in quarterly payments pursuant to Paragraph 2.1 On or before June 1 of each contract year, the COUNTY will compile and send to the CITY information on the actual District Court costs for the prior year. Starting in 2018, if actual District Court direct expenditures plus Court security in the prior year varied by more than 2% from the budgeted District Court direct expenditures plus Court security for that prior year, then, on or before June 1 of the current contract year, the annual fee amount for the prior year will be recalculated using the actual District Court costs for the prior year, and the difference (defined as what had been calculated as the annual fee amount for the prior year versus the corrected annual fee amount for the prior year) will be added or subtracted to the current year's annual fee. Unless otherwise mutually agreed, any correction for actual costs in will be paid by one jurisdiction to the other, no later than June 30 of that year. In no event shall the City be liable for a correction greater than 10% of the estimated fee except to the degree the increase is because of City cases, nor shall the City be liable for any increase because of County cases. To the degree an increase above 10% is because of an unanticipated increase in the cost of one or more line items within budgeted District Court direct expenditures (for example, labor costs from settlement of a collective bargaining agreement, extra labor costs due to illness, etc.), the County shall inform the City of the increased costs, and the parties shall negotiate a reasonable adjustment to the fee. 2.4 Other Costs. The fees set forth in Paragraphs 2.1 and 2.3 of this agreement shall include all COUNTY services for District Court proceedings except for the following additional costs to be paid by the CITY for cases filed by the CITY: a. In the event the CITY separately contracts for and directly pays for indigent defense, CITY shall give COUNTY at least 120 days' written notice prior to the effective date of such contract, and for all portions of the contract year that the COUNTY will not be providing indigent defense for CITY cases, attorney costs for indigent representation shall not be included in the annual fee computation; b. Witness costs, jury trial costs, including required meals, bailiff services, mailing of juror service notices, together with the applicable mileage allowances, and the cost of interpreter services for court proceedings, which costs and allowances) shall be paid by the CITY; Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 5 of 9 C. Prosecution costs including prosecution costs associated with any appeal in CITY cases. d. COUNTY agrees to actively pursue, by reasonable and necessary means as allowed by law, the collection of witness, jury, filing, and other appropriate fees from the convicted defendants against whom they have been assessed. DUR dlTlON, "1`"ERMIWN TI LV" ,ITIT NI) A R.1u ITRATION AS TO FEES 3.1 Duration. .............. Unless amended by mutual agreement, this agreement shall be in effect for a term commencing January 1, 2018 and ending at the conclusion of December 31, 2020, except Section 1.6 which shall survive the termination or expiration of this agreement, and the cost correction provisions in Section 2.3 for 2020 actual costs, which shall remain in effect and end at the conclusion of June 30, 2021. 3.2 Termination. If neither party terminates this agreement, then this agreement shall continue for an additional three calendar years with any disputes as to filing fees being resolved consistent with the requirements set forth in RCW 3.62.070 and Section 3.3 below. 3.3 Arbitration 11'NoALre incn�l;...3 gg ming Fees. After the delivery of the notice described in Section 2.3 above, both patties shall negotiate in good faith any dispute regarding the proper calculation of the annual fee as prescribed in this Agreement. If the parties are not able to reach agreement regarding the annual fee, then either party may invoke binding arbitration consistent with the requirement of RCW 3.62.070 on the fee issue or RCW 39.34.180 on levels of compensation. However, nothing contained herein shall prohibit the parties from mutually agreeing to extend the period of good faith negotiations or to submit the matter to mediation for resolution of the outstanding fee issues. In the event the issue of the annual fee is submitted to arbitration, the arbitrator or arbitrators shall only consider those additional costs borne by the COUNTY in providing District Court services to the CITY as provided for by RCW 3.62.070 or RCW 39.34.180. Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 6 of 9 This agreement is entered into effective the last date signed below. C1"' )F PORT TOWNSEND �� s David Tininion., City ManagWl),tc APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: Steve Gross, City Attorney Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 7 of 9 JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS m latb'�leer Kler, Chair Date APPROVED BY DISTRICT COURT JUDGE l Jill Landes Date APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: Philip Hunsucker, Chief Civil D 1'u Prosecuting Attorney EXHIBIT I - TEMPLATE - DISTRICT COURT COSTS - CITY SHARE FOR 20 20--i 20 20 Budgeted Actual Budgeted Costs Costs Costs J (Prior Year) (Current Yearl _,, District Court Bud et Allocated ggerafing Costs for Securi subttl Court + SecurAy om trial court fund Stte Fundi Less transfer !r.......... (,. mma,..p Less transfer from fund 131 for Mental Health Court case mmt Less Costs paid direct) b Coun & Ci in Section 2Ab Net District Court + Security Expenditures _ _ f total contract - Public Defender Costs District Court 50% o.... _.. � ......._.... .......................,....,......................... ...________,._._�..._,.__________ Less public deftnise grant State Funding) 50% of grant Ne Fubli lltf er Costs D�strrctmCaurt) rt + Securl + Public Defender Costs Net..C.. ou__.� �.��.... _ ....,� �... ._ _ ...... .... ....��.. ,________ ..._._ _ Difference Actual v_Budgeted _..._ ., _ % Difference (if > 12.00%, adjust next year's invoice) 0.010%`" 39t3rem�tttNm�s±ss}.�� mm,.,_ O.tb�i°/a 000°/a.'..��.�. Share of Net District Court + Security lent for'Ackual v. Bud eked if a livable d City $$ Share of Net District Court + Security Share of Net Public Defender Costs lent far Actual v. Budsleted ifap licabie d City $'$ Share of Net Public Defender Costs Year of statistics: 20 20 120 -3-yr TTL 2q- 3 -yr TTL. (4yrs prior) (3yrs ;prior) (2yrs prior) 4yrs-2yrs ('1 yr prior) 3yrs-1yr nrlor Infra County... - ----------- - - - -- . — -------------------- city subttl Infractions - i inai m —_ County••_ .. ��.... - _........... Ci subttl Criminal Violations Domestic Violence�ment ,,,...,., County ..� ... ........ _._._.� C' subttl Domestic Violence/Harrassment - - ,Civil_and Small Claims _ _ Counter Ci _ subtttl Civil & Small Claims Al C S S _.. _ _._. r . ,. ............. County # cases_ ..,.,,_ ..� .... ...0.00%'.. �Qunty %rases _A,,,,, -- ..... 0 0 _.m 0% �m,,,0 00%a� ,,, _ Ci # cases Ci % cases _ 0.00% 0.00%° ° 0m00% a 0.00. �0 000 o/o o° 0.001 TTL # cases 5E.SE Dj,N .LN it N .qqq_ IT #casae. --- _ M... _ m Coli ° S exctudgn enratnon my /° case excluding . _ . _ s 000/° ° 000% 0°/a 000 ..............0.—_ 0 00'l° 0 00% 0.00°1a ....m.'CS!.....CICih9din,figbfrllCtl491?',...._......._. t r.m.. .... ......,.._....__ � ...— ............. ...° Cil % cases - exclud"un infractions ° 0 00 �"° 0,00% 0.00 A 0.00%'° 0.00 P° �I.�i� °a 0 �" TTL # cases - excluding infractions - t . Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 8 of 9 EXHIBIT 2 - EXAMPLE - DISTRICT COURT COSTS - CITY SHARE FOR 2017 Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 9 of 9 2016 2016 2017 Budgeted Actual Budgeted District Court Budget __. _ 824,550 801A.149 827,474 Allocated 02ftrating Costs for Security 53,654 60531 55,264 sublO Court + Security 678,204 861,„680 882,737 Less from trialcourt fund (Slate Furgdpal _ _ 1 for Me tal Healthmgwnt� Less t ransfer from fund _ nsfef fr _ ��(15,825) -15,000 nty City n case Less Costs direct) by 20m000 ' ........__._..... -20,000 Net District Court + Security Expenditures 1 838,7041 825,530 843,237 Public Defender Costs District Court50% of total contract J 292µ,500 301,412 ------..._. 311,708' Less ublic defense grant State Fundin 500%of rant -17 500 -21,038 -17 500 Net Public Defender Costs (Distract Courts m ...._.., .,.... .,..,. _..... _ mmm, 275,000 280,374 294 208 Net Court +Security + Public_Defender Costs1.113,704 1 1 05.904 1 137 445' Difference Actual v. Budetecf ctu _ _.-. ,. . _..,m 7,801 __.. na f--� _ % Difference (if > t2.00%, adjust next years invoice) -0.701 na 11 casu5 /o Shared ,_ _.. _. 12 92% 0 _, 13 30% _-, - Cit $$ Share of Net District Court + Securit h _ of Net i -Budgeted _... 106 36m .. 1 106 658 1,702 112,15x, fe Ad ust n if a lira ble Adjusted City $$ Share of Net District Court + SecUrity 112,151 C ify a Sf1are pxcludn minfracfions)14,70%0 15.92% �„ Cly $ Share of NetyPublic Defender Costs �„ _.. 40.425 41,215 790 46,838 ,.,...... . _ . Aoustmnent for Actual v, Elul eted if applicable) 0 Adjusted City $$ Share of Net Public Defender Casts 46,838. Cq Annual Fee $ 1681988, DISTRICT COURT FILING STATISTICS.r.ONT'f AACT u1iITH CITY Year of statlsflcs 2013 2014 2015 3 -yr TTL 2016 3 -yr TTL 13-"1 S '1421 infractions .. . Y... � ..... _. �..__ 5 4 .. 5 91 4 ......14.824 4200 �., 14013 {ural .. 601 690 609 2 100 511 2 010 subtfl Infractions 5,612 5,612 5,700 16„924 4,711 18,023 "riminat Violations Count 983 _ 812 6 . 828 _u.ww2,621m l 841 µw µµµµµwww µw2,4791 Cit 668 268 234 213' 715 291 738' sobtfl Criminal Violations 1,2511 1,04.6 i,o,3911 3,336 1„132 3,217 Domestac Violence Harrasynenf Gounf6p �_. _._.- .- ..... -..._.� _- - _ ... -,- _ ..------- _ 115 54 �. 257 ....... , m.- 82 25, _ �. .� Cit 0 0 0 0 saubttl Domestic Violence/Harrassment 88 115 4 257 82 251 Civil and Small Claims 2m! _ 430 ... 406 s 1 x271 ., ..._ .- City 0 0 0 0 0 subtttl Civil & Small Claims Obi 4061 435 1,271 32'6 1,167 ALLGASE Coi,ant #cases 512 6 Q55 ..............° 6 6,406 973 5 440 17,91µg o -._.... Gaunt /o cases 88 2 ° 6 /4 B8 o 87.08% mm87 17% 82,815 86,70% ..._.. - _.... .. 6/9 13 822 ... 802 _?748 o City /o oases ° 0 11.77 /0 15.66 /0 11.37 /0 12.92% 12.83% ° 13.30 /o TTL # cases 7,381 7,179 7,2215 21,788 6,251 20,658 & L, CAS- L«Lf9DING INFRACTI ,249 389,7 s sexcludi 85 0234° 86.06%13 85715io 0 .. s11129/0 64 Q73/o S C� cases i fractions...... ... 268 ..84 268 W 6 Cit % cases - excludin infractions 15.15% 14.93% 13.94% 14.70% 18,90% 15.92% TTL # cases - excluding infractions _._. 1,7691 1,5671 11 1 529 4,864 1,540 4 635 Jefferson County -City of Port Townsend 2018-2020 District Court/Indigent Defense Page 9 of 9