Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Transcript of this meeting or if you need reasonable accommodations including this communication in an alternative format due to disability, please contact the clerk to the commission's office at (404) 612-8232.

Good morning everyone and welcome to the first regular meeting of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners of the month of March. Today is March 4, it's 10:01 a. M. Madam clerk, please call the roll.

Chairman Rob Pitts. Present. Commissioner Bridget Thorne. Present. Commissioner Bob Ellis.

Present.

Commissioner Dana Barrett. Present. Commissioner Mo Ivory. Present. Commissioner Marvin Arrington Junior. Present. Vice chair Khadija Abdul Rahman. Present. Mister chairman, have a quorum.

Thank you. Please rise for the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Let us pray. Almighty and gracious god, we come this morning just to say thank you. We thank you, lord, for all who have gathered. We pray now your peace will rest, root, and abide upon us all. Bless our commissioners, lord. Continue to lead and guide them as they lead these your people. Let your peace and your protection always be upon them. It's in your name that we humbly pray. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. Alright madam clerk continue.

On page two, consent agenda. Twenty six zero one zero six, adoption of the consent agenda. All matters listed on the consent agenda are considered routine by the County Commission and will be enacted by one motion. No separate discussion will take place on these items. If discussion of any consent agenda item is desired, the item will be moved to the first regular meeting agenda for separate consideration.

Any items on the consent agenda? Madam clerk.

I don't have any.

Alright, commissioners. Alright, the motion to adopt the consent agenda, motion to approve by commissioner Thorne, seconded by commissioner Ivory. Please vote.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes unanimously. Bottom of page four, first regular meeting agenda twenty six zero one one three, adoption of the first regular meeting agenda. Mister chairman and members of the board have one item to be removed from today's agenda on the bottom of page five under county manager's items twenty six zero one one seven registration election request approval for statewide contract for mail notices. This item will be brought back at a later meeting.

Also, on page nine, the chairman has requested to revise his item twenty six zero one two nine, his discussion and request approval, jail population reduction initiative.

Any other items? Yes. Alright. Commissioner Ivory.

Thank you chairman. I'd like to remove item 26 dash 75 from

the agency. It

is on page six. 75, it is the removal of Anne Hillbond to the reparations task force she no longer wants to serve. Okay, You got that? And then I'd also like to remove item 260,125 on the top of page eight. My original intent with this resolution was create a last resort diversion so people who don't need to be incarcerated wouldn't end up in jail.

That is my top priority and I would never want that to be misinterpreted. So after discussions with community stakeholders, I'm pulling that from the agenda today for further conversation.

Anyone else? Commissioner, Vice Chair Abdul Rahman.

Thank you Chairman. I'm gonna ask that item twenty six zero one two nine.

What page?

On page nine, Board of Commissioners discussion jail population reduction initiative. We've got a lot of stakeholders here this morning and because of the seriousness of the issue, the timeliness of the issue, I would like for it to be moved up to after public comments please. Alright.

Anything else?

That's

it. Alright. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Motion to approve by commissioner Ivory, seconded by vice chair Abdul Rahman.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes unanimously. Twenty six zero one one four ratification of minutes. First regular meeting minutes February 4. Second regular meeting postagenda minutes 02/18/2026.

Alright motion to is that a motion?

It's the wrong heading for it chairman.

Alright. Yeah.

What's going on with the head?

Alright. Motion to ratify. Motion to ratify the minutes by commissioner Thorne.

I second it. I second

it by vice chair Abdul Rahman.

And the vote is open.

Thank you

very much.

And the motion passes unanimously. On page five, twenty six zero one one five, presentation of proclamations and certificates. The first proclamation is recognizing Empower Her Appreciation Day sponsored by Vice Chair Abdul Rahman with full board support.

Good

morning. Can you all come down and join us lovely ladies? And men. The cane. The cane. That's the cane. Good

morning. How are you doing, daughter?

It's a wonderful group of

I know, but

you're a little bit representative.

Wonderful group of men and women representing a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful proclamation today. A lot of these individuals I know personally, they're great individuals, especially the king. This proclamation, whereas empower her, is a Fulton County arts and culture initiative established in 2024, dedicated to honoring and uplifting women artists across a wide range of creative disciplines, promoting inclusion, visibility, and equity, and bringing together emerging mid career and established artists whose work reflects the cultural, social, and artistic impact of women in contemporary art and culture. And whereas Empower Her has grown into the largest exhibition of women artists in Fulton County and the state of Georgia. You can clap for that.

Featuring featuring the work of more than a 140 artists, this remarkable growth underscores Fulton County's leadership in arts and culture and its continued commitment to investing in creative expression as a vital component of civic life and community well-being, and whereas Empower Her programming will expand in 2026 to include three artist residencies, two feature artists and a robust schedule of exhibitions and public programming designed to foster professional development, creative exchange and meaningful engagement between arts between artists and the communities they serve. And whereas Empower Her twenty twenty six will be presented across multiple Fulton County facilities, including the Fulton County Government Center, the Central Library, and the Emma Darnell Aviation Museum and Conference Center, an approach that ensures broad public access to the exhibition while highlighting the county's culture, assets, and commitment to inclusive county wide arts programming. And, on a personal note, I was able to be at their inaugural event, and if you were there, the roof almost blew off with all these artists that were in, and I thank all of you. We had some beautiful artists and wonderful dialogue, and I was honored to be a part of the inaugural event. Now therefore be resolved that the Fulton County Board of Commissioner recognizes Empower Her as a powerful platform for representation, dialogue, and cultural enrichment, and an essential resource for building a more inclusive and vibrant community and does hereby proclaim Wednesday, 03/04/2026 as empower her appreciation day in Fulton County, Georgia.

Please put your hands together for this talented group. Now who's who's gonna come speak? Tisha? You got the mic. Oh wow,

I didn't expect this part. I wanna say thank you to everyone that came out today. Thank you to the team that helped cultivate, empower her. This started as just, hey, I wanna do an exhibition for Women's History Month and I didn't see it to be this today. I'm very proud of it. I'm very proud of everyone. I'm proud of, thank you so much David and Doctor. Fowler for allowing us to transform from just an exhibition to an initiative. Thank you to the Board of Commissioners for acknowledging it as an appreciation today as appreciation day for Empower Her. We look forward to the exhibition opening on March 13 at 6PM.

Please join us on that day where you can see all the artwork. Enjoy the artwork here at Peachtree Gallery. Come with us on March 14. We're doing a little bus tour. Don't know if all of us will be able to get on it, but we are touring the exhibition from Emma Darnell going to, coming here, and then down to the central library.

So, I just want to say thank you to everyone, we really appreciate you, thank you Tay, thank you the staff at Emma Darnell, the Thank team is you Miss Nancy, where's Nancy? Thank you, Nancy, this couldn't have been done without Miss Vickie, oh yeah, Miss Vickie and everyone that was involved for pulling this together. It couldn't have happened without a strong team like such. Thank you.

The next proclamation is recognizing developmental disabilities awareness month sponsored by commissioner Ellis with full board support.

I want to invite our team to come down from our behavioral health and developmental disabilities department as well as some of our clients. They're very inconspicuous, so you may not notice them in that bright orange. Come on down. Spread out. As folks continue to come on down, March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, and you may not know that more than a quarter of a million people live with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state of Georgia, with up to thirty three thousand of them here in Fulton County.

Fortunately, Georgia ranks among the top 10 states for providing services to people with disabilities. In Fulton County, we're also seeking to do our part, and you will see a number of our dedicated staff who work every day with our clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Recently, we opened a new South Training Center earlier this year in about a month. That's good, right? Yes.

Yep. It's a great looking spot. And in about a month, I'm happy to say we will open a new Health and Human Services campus in Alpharetta which will house a North Fulton training center. So we're super excited about the opening of the South training center and the soon to be opening of the North training center. And we're committed to doing all we can to provide services to allow individuals to thrive and contribute to our community.

And with that, I'm gonna share this proclamation. Whereas in 1987, president Ronald Reagan proclaimed the month of March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month to increase public awareness of the needs and exceptional potential of Americans with intellectual developmental disabilities. And whereas intellectual developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas that began during the developmental period and may impact day to day functioning that usually last throughout a person's lifetime, And whereas the Fulton County's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, IDDs, what the sometimes you'll hear that acronym centers, have expanded programs to welcome new participants reflecting growth and community trust in our services. Through strengthened partnerships with organizations like the Chattahoochee Nature Center, Kirkwood Library, the centers provide inclusive community based experiences, enriching activities such as educational workshops and community outings foster learning, independence, and a sense of belonging for individuals with IDD. And whereas Fulton's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities has served IDD individuals through its day services programs for the past fifty one years.

The program is committed to bringing awareness and acceptance of people for every ability and providing opportunities to become more independent, economically self sufficient, and contributing members of their communities. Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County recognizes the intellectual developmentally disabled as valuable members of the Fulton County community, encourages their inclusion in every facet of life in Metro Atlanta, and does hereby proclaim March 2026 as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in Fulton County, Georgia. All right. With this big a group, we've got to have somebody that's going to get up here and speak. All right.

All right. Take as long as you like. Don't worry about Chairman Pitts.

Good morning. First, I would like to thank the board for for awarding us this proclamation. I'm Veronica Rooks, program manager at Fulton County Central Training Center. This year's theme nationally for IDD Awareness Month is We're Here, Then, Now, and Always. This year marks our program's fifty first year of service, which shows just how deep our legacy runs.

Back then, there were babies who came to learn skills to help them reach milestones of success. Now, we support adults in living their best lives incorporating socialization, lifelong learning, and community integration. Our goal is always to have a lasting impact in our communities communities and to support individuals in fulfilling their wildest dreams while sharing their different abilities with all people. Please join me in saluting all of the amazing individuals, caregivers, and the support team who brings awareness to disabilities not only in the month of March, but every single day. Thank you.

The next proclamation is recognizing theater in our schools month sponsored by commissioner Ellis with full board support.

I'd to invite Matthew and Brooke from Milton High School to come down. Alright. Miss Anquilla, you don't wanna come down too? Alright. Alright.

You

know, in in Fulton County and in the state of Georgia, we know that we have had we have a very rich film culture, theater culture, arts culture, and what I'm gonna share with today is sort of where that emanates from, where are the roots of that, and where are the performers that we see develop their skills and build up the confidence to perform. And it starts in our middle schools and our high schools. And we've got two folks, I'm a little bit biased because my children went to this high school in Milton and my daughter. This theater program took my daughter out to California. So I know how good it is and how much talent they have and they're just representative of some of the great programs and the great talent that we have in Fulton County.

So the International Thespian Society supports theater programs in middle schools and high schools and has inducted more than 2,400,000 students into that society since 1929. And I want to share with you this proclamation that will get into kind of the importance of these programs and what they mean. You know, so oftentimes we talk about things like athletics and so that and what that brings and so forth, but it also happens in the theater world. It's not only about entertainment, it's about education, it's about teamwork, it's about learning responsibility and delivering quality and inspiring confidence in our young people that they can carry out throughout the rest of their life regardless of whether that's up on stage or out in the workforce or working in our communities. So without further ado, I want to share this proclamation.

Whereas the importance and the value of theater education in the lives of students all across Fulton County cannot be overstated, preparing students for careers both inside and out of the arts, and whereas the arts are essential and help to bolster the economy and vitalize and connect communities, and whereas theater programs across the state provide students with personal and professional opportunities for self expression, creativity, and career exploration while enhancing students' self confidence and ability to engage and emphasize with the surrounding community. And whereas we also recognize and support the important work of organization like Georgia Thespians that help support students from all backgrounds by providing various educational, financial, and performance opportunities. And whereas theater educators, administrators, and parents have an immeasurable impact on the lives of their students and work tirelessly on the front lines of theater advocacy to ensure the arts continue to be an integral part of a student's education. And whereas Fulton County recognizes and celebrates the invaluable work of theater educators, students, and community members whose passions serve as safeguards to this art form, noting that their commitment to the arts has been and will continue to be felt for generations to come.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners recognize the importance of arts and culture in our education systems and does hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as Theater in Our Schools Month in Fulton County, Georgia. All right. Who's going to speak? All right.

First off, I would like to thank Commissioner Ellis and the rest of the Fulton County Commissioners for recognizing the importance of the timeless art form that is theater in our schools. Now, many of my peers and sometimes myself don't take much pride in saying that we are theater kids. Why is that? You might ask. Well, for context, in January, the New York Times posted an article saying that theater kid is this century's derogatory term and it is used to call people weak and unmotivated.

However, let it be widely known that there are absolutely no research studies that find that theater kids are weaker in any way than their peers or less motivated. However, what is statistically proven is that theater kids are more emotionally intelligent than their peers. We are creative thinkers, collaborative leaders and we are academically strong. The formation and advancement of these traits is exactly why theater in our schools is so important. The impact of theater kids is measurable and almost more importantly our stories are undeniable.

Simply put, theater in schools changes lives. So it is my hope that this month and every month past, current and prospective theater kids take pride in their art. And I hope communities and schools continue to foster the development of theater in our schools for generations to come. Thank you.

The last proclamation is recognizing Wellspring Living Appreciation Day sponsored by Commissioner Barrett with full support.

I'd like to welcome the folks from Wellspring Living to come down and join us and while they do, I'll just make a quick note that this coming Sunday is International Women's Day and we thought what better way to acknowledge International Women's Day acknowledge the work and to celebrate the work of Wellspring Living who play a vital role in women's lives. Thank you guys for being here. Think we all know that sex trafficking and sexual exploitation is still a terrible problem for women and girls all across the world, all across this country and in Georgia in particular and I think it's worth noting that one of the times where sex trafficking is on the rise is during major sporting events and we have World Cup coming to Atlanta and so I know that awareness and being if you see something, say something sort of mentality is really helpful to those who are most vulnerable. So with that, we are here to celebrate this organization today and I would like to read the proclamation which says, whereas International Women's Day observed on March 8 celebrates the strength, leadership, and achievements of women and girls while recognizing that many still face health and economic disparities, and whereas Fulton County is committed to advancing the health and well-being of women and girls, promoting economic opportunity and preventing gender based violence in our communities, and whereas since 2001, Wellspring Living has served survivors and those at risk of sexual exploitation through trauma informed care that restores dignity, rebuilds confidence, and breaks cycles of abuse and whereas Wellspring Living provides safe housing, mental health counseling, and education programs in Fulton County to women and adolescent girls so they can heal and achieve long term stability.

They are a lifeline y'all. And whereas Wellspring Living is a leader in the anti trafficking movement and has shared its survivor centered model with organizations around the country and around the world. Now therefore be it resolved that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners commends Wellspring Living for its twenty five years of service to women and girls and in honor of International Women's Day does hereby proclaim 03/04/2026 as Wellspring Living Appreciation Day in Fulton County, Georgia.

Chairman Pitts, commissioner Barrett, board of commissioners, thank you for this honor. This proclamation is a powerful signal to the survivors we serve that Fulton County sees them, values them, and stands with them. As commissioner Barrett referenced, Wellspring Living celebrates twenty five years of walking alongside women and girls as they rebuild their lives after trafficking and exploitation. When our founder, Mary Frances Bohley, opened Wellspring Living in 2001, she wanted to serve marginalized women by providing a safe home and supportive resources. As our team began to know the first women we served, we realized they were survivors of sexual trafficking and exploitation.

Since then, Wellspring Living has continued to grow to include serving children. In 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin approached our founder realizing that trafficking wasn't only impacting adults and would Wellspring Living create place where girls could also find safety and healing? In response, our girls residential program was established. Over the past two decades, we have learned much about the reality of trafficking. Georgia ranks among the highest states in the nation for human trafficking, and Atlanta has long been identified as a major hub for this crime.

The average age a child is first trafficked in our state is between 12 and 14 years old. These realities remind us that trafficking is not a distant issue, it's happening in our own neighborhoods. Through housing, healing, and education, Wellspring Living provides a continuum of care that supports women and youth as they rebuild their lives and move towards a healthy and thriving future of their choosing. Fulton County, thank you. You have been an ongoing funding and advocacy partner, and we are deeply grateful for your investment in the survivors in this work.

Since 02/2016, you have provided over $700,000 to directly impact our programs in the women and girls. You've also allocated $500,000 to help us finish our village of hope campus here in Fulton County that will expand our impact in housing services for survivors. On International Women's Day, we honor the thousands of women and girls who have walked through the doors of Wellspring Living over the past twenty five years. This proclamation is for them, for their steadfastness, their courage to rebuild, determination to rediscover hope, joy, and to trust again. We're inspired and continually in awe of them.

This work takes a village and the people surrounding me today represent that community. Our dedicated staff, our board of directors, our volunteers, and the generous donors who make this work possible. For twenty five years, Wellspring Living has been filled with stories of hope, healing, and transformation, lives changed, and futures restored. Thank you for being a part of Wellspring Living.

Alright. Continue madam clerk.

Continuing on page five, public hearings. Twenty six zero one one six public comment. Citizens wishing to participate in public comment will be allowed to appear in person or may choose to participate virtually via Zoom video conferencing by registering on the county website www.fultoncountyga.gov. Priority for public comment will be given to Fulton County citizens and those individuals representing businesses or organizations located within Fulton County. Speakers will be granted up to two minutes each.

The public will not be allowed to yield or donate time to other speakers. The public comment portion of the meeting will not exceed sixty minutes. In the event the sixty minute time limit is reached prior to public comments being completed, public comment will be suspended and the business portion of the BLC meeting will commence. Public comment will resume at the end of the meeting. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, we'll start with speakers here in Assembly Hall. We have received 14 speaker cards. Would the first seven speakers please come forward? Linda H. Williams, Michael Collins, Helen D.

Williams, Moki Marcias, LA Pink, Tanya Wright, and Latrice Williams.

Alright speakers, we have fifteen seconds. I'll say fifteen seconds that's your key to begin to conclude your remarks.

Good morning. My name is Linda Williams I am the founder and CEO of a nonprofit called Beginning Today Inc. We provide mentoring services to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women here in Fulton County. I have submitted a proposal to become an advocate for these women that are currently housed at the Atlantic Detention Center. A lot of these women don't have anyone to advocate for them.

They are in there and they don't have family members. A lot of their family members are taking care of their children, which is why we have a growing population of grandparents raising grandchildren. And so, come before you with a proposal for me to become an advocate to speak on behalf of these women to provide initial contact with the inmates, to identify their needs, to communicate with their families, to provide assistance, to promote educational rehabilitation programs, to be a liaison between them and the Fulton County Advisory Unit. Program benefits obviously will reduce overcrowding at the Fulton County jail. We also have resources to help the ladies once they get out, which will reduce recidivism, which is that cycle of getting out and going back and getting out and going back.

It reduces the workload for the advocacy unit in the sheriff's department and it provides one on one. I meet with these women twice a week, every week. We've got some women that are in there, they don't even know what their terms and what their conditions of release are. They're sitting there and they're just waiting for someone to help them. Fifteen

seconds, ma'am.

So, my proposal is for me to be able to work with and for these women to help them to reduce the overcrowding. Thank you for your time.

Hello, commissioners, it's been a while. My name is Michael Collins. I'm speaking today on behalf of Playfair ATL, an Atlanta based coalition working to ensure the twenty twenty six World Cup upholds labor, housing and human rights while leaving a positive local legacy. I want to highlight the recently released Path to 1,000 report from the Community Over Cages Coalition. This report lays out a clear and practical roadmap to safely reduce the Fulton County jail population to around 1,000 people through diversion, bail reform and smarter pretrial practices.

There is a lot of blame to go around for the current mess we are in, but there are also clear solutions. So this is our General Keith Gamage. We need you to immediately expand diversion and dismiss low level misdemeanor cases that are clogging the jail, particularly competency cases where people are waiting months or even years in jail for treatment beds. District Attorney Fanny Willis, we need you to prioritize cases involving people who are sitting in jail pretrial and expand the use of accusation and other tools that resolve cases faster and reduce unnecessary detention. This matters because Fulton County is under a federal consent decree that now requires the jail population to be reduced.

The question in front of this body is not whether the population must come down. The consent decree monitor has already answered that. The real question is whether the county will implement the solutions expert and community leaders have been identifying for years. And that solution is not and never has been a $1,000,000,000 or $2,000,000,000 deal. Right now the county does not even have enough staff to safely operate the jail we already have with staff hovering around 50%.

Fifteen seconds.

If we cannot staff the current jail, how are we going to staff an even larger one? With the World Cup a hundred days away, Fulton County will be on the global stage. Millions of people from around the world will be paying attention. Do we want Fulton County to be known for overcrowding dangerous deals or for solving the crisis through diversion, fairness and smart public policy? Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Arrington, Ms. Ivory, and Mama. My name is Helen Delilah Williams. I am from the Vine City community, and I stand before you in the reference of identity theft and deed fraud. The reason I'm stating making this known is because we, as seniors, are going through identity theft through all means, and we're unable to recoup and come to the county to affix this situation on your own. Mr. Arrington, three years ago, I came to you and cited and sat with you and asked you to be my lawyer. I told you that I was going through identity fraud and that the bank was using my name through all these loans within the community of Vine City.

I gave you $600 and I had an opportunity to speak with you and Carmen. So, therefore, I did not get any assistance from you. I found out there was credit fraud within my address and within my community. My tag was stolen from my 740BMW, which interfered with my entire life. My insurance, my health, my MARTA pension, and the ATU has locked my name up in identity fraud.

Through the DMV, I have tried several times to sit before the office and to correct this information, but yet, still, they keep giving me false names and telling me I have to bring my birth certificate just to clear my issue. I told him that that should not be. With that being done, I was incarcerated through this identity fraud from Walmart. They arrested me and they told me that I missed a failure to report, which I never received. So, I was surrounded by all these black vehicles. At that point, I thought it was the city of Atlanta, but no, it actually turned out to be ICE.

Fifteen seconds.

They took me to the jail and when I went through the jail, I had to go through the impersonal situation of being patted down and showing your body naked and all this situation, which is repeated on me. Also, I'm a part of the seniors within the Vine City community. And we are having

Thank you ma'am.

Good morning. Moki Macias, executive director of PAD. I'm here today because over the weekend we became aware of legislation that appeared to request the collaboration of the sheriff, DA, and solicitor in ensuring full utilization of pre arrest diversion. The legislation caused some concern because it left out key stakeholders and disregarded the ongoing planning of the Justice Policy Board of which PAD is a part. So I appreciate Commissioner Ivory pulling today's resolution in favor of ongoing collaboration with the existing planning efforts.

So thank you for that. But we do agree that the there are significant opportunities for the sheriff and the prosecutors to ensure utilization of pre arrest diversion. And we think there are some steps that can be taken immediately to do that. So I wanted to to share that with you today. And I just spoke with the sheriff outside the the the door here and and had the same conversation with him.

We know that what has been done in many other places around the country particularly when it comes to health and safety in jails is that the sheriff has the authority to immediately decline bookings for misdemeanor offenses or for those that are eligible for diversion. He has the immediate authority to tell our law enforcement partners you can either issue a copy of charges or we have a twenty four hour diversion center. We have the infrastructure now to be able to make a bold choice like that that would immediately reduce our jail population. Now on the prosecutor's side, the prosecutors have existing resources that they could utilize more. Right now, today, we have 16 people at Fulton County Jail that are still in jail and not connected to services through PAD because we are waiting for the prosecutor to dismiss and divert the charges.

16 people that we could pick up. When we get diverted charges from Fulton County Jail or ACDC, we go pick the person up, we offer them housing, we provide long term support for as long as they need it. So I just wanted to share that with you today. Thank you.

Alrighty. Good morning, political gangbangers. I would like to give a special thank you to Ms. King, the state election. She's on the state election board for speaking truth to power, for her really speaking up for the corruption that's going on here.

So as the Fulton County turns, we open up the Fulton County Steam, the Fulton Steam Files. And, as we opened it up, we discovered that there is black corruption is our new black history. Sad, but true. They say that the black vote is up under attack, that's by Democrats. And, the reason why I say that is because if you guys all remember Charles Rambo, Khadija Abdul Rahman, our state, our former state representative, Misha Maynard, our city council, our former city council Keisha Waits, and also me, was attacked, not by Republicans, but by Democrats.

So, when you say that our vote, our community is under attack, you're right, it's by Democrats. We also know that Helen Willis is applying for Marvin Aronson's seat after she's taken $5,000 out of the inmate welfare funding given by the sheriff that we can't find. I put in an open records request for a check, check not here. So, when you say that our communities and our people are under attack, that $5,000 could have went to our inmates that Moivre claimed that she's just so involved with and wanting to bring truth to power and fight for it.

Fifteen seconds.

We know that this is a stage because Mo, you came here giving out proclamations like you're running a marathon and money like you were in a strip club.

Get it together.

Good morning. My name is Latrice Williams. I'm here to advocate for my son, Dwayne Lamar High Junior. His critical medical good morning. My name is Latrice Williams.

I'm here to advocate on behalf of my son, Dwayne Lamar High Junior. He has critical medical condition, severe seizure disorder posing life threatening risks, post COVID state falling seizures causing confusion and impaired judgment, type one diabetic diagnosis requiring continuous monitoring, medical instability, increased vulnerability during incarceration. His mental health diagnosis is bipolar disorder with psychic features, schizophrenic syndrome affecting condition and perceptions. Mental health instability worsens during post seizure episodes. Require structured medical and psychiatric supervision.

Company and functional impairment. Recently found competent. However, conditions remain medically fragile. Post procedure states temporary, impair reasoning, and communication. Competency status should consider ongoing neurology and psychiatric factors. Court acknowledgment of medical relates is essential. Me, Latrice Williams, let his mother, his advocate and power of attorney, advocate for human treatment and medical appropriate decision, request coordination between medical providers, defense counsel, and court.

Alright. Fifteen seconds, ma'am.

Emphasize on prevention of life, health, stability, and rehabilitation. Recognition of documented medical and mental health condition. Consideration doing plea negotiation or proceedings. Ensure medical accommodation and

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

Good morning commissioners. My name is Tanya Wright and I return before you with deep concern regarding the recent appointment of Booker T Washington to the Planning and Zoning Commission under the appointment of Union City Mayor Vince Williams. Just weeks ago, I stood before this body on February 4, detailing the construction failures, the financial theft, the questionable permits and questionable certificates of occupancy committed against South Park Cottages. The same developer was sworn into a position that directly influences land use, development, approvals, and zoning decisions. This is deeply troubling.

How can an individual who left a trail of liens, lawsuits and construction destruction be strategically tasked with overseeing the future of our county's development? I'm here today to ask who's protecting the underserved communities. If the very people who violate building codes are the ones appointed to write and enforce them, the system isn't just broken, it's rigged. I urge commissions to investigate the motives behind this appointment and to intervene in the oversight of the city of College Park in Union City. Our communities deserve leadership rooted in integrity, transparency, and proven accountability, not calculated corruption.

Please do not allow Booker T Washington operating as techie homes to use his position on the planning and zoning commission as a shield for private development interests or as protection from accountability. Thank you for your commitment to protecting the people you serve.

Next seven speakers please come down. Devin Franklin, Janet Hill, Maria Guardio, Steven Emile, Denise Rubin, DeMarco Lord, and S Kennedy.

Good morning commissioners. My name is Devin Franklin. Am senior movement policy counsel with the Southern Center for Human Rights for those watching and who don't know. On February 20, the Federal Monitor overseeing the Fulton County Consent Decree filed their second Monitor's Report. It's a three fifty page document of findings and compliance statuses as it pertains to fixes for the numerous violations that were articulated in their original 2024 findings report.

My two minutes today are not nearly sufficient to discuss the report in detail. However, I do want to recognize one particular passage in the executive summary regarding staffing that formally acknowledges the potential need for a court ordered population cap. This idea is not new to myself. My twelve years as a public defender, whose firsthand experiences at the jail told me that the staffing levels and the nature of overturning staffing were unlikely to improve in the future, told me that. It is not a surprise either to the Southern Center for Human Rights who wrote the formal request of the Department of Justice calling for the investigation into the Fulton County Jail.

We knew that the staffing issues were problematic. Nor is it news to the Community Overcages Coalition, which recently published its Path to 1,000 report, which articulates a plan to reduce the Fulton County Jail population to 1,000. Central to that plan is the increased use of diversion. We understand fundamentally that slowing the bringing of people into the jail impacts the overall jail population. And I understand on today's agenda, it's a discussion about that decrease.

I want to be clear that we want to see diversion initiatives that prioritize making effective and efficient use of the diversion infrastructures that currently exist. Fifteen seconds. We want to see usage that respects the expertise and the vision of experts and professionals who do the work of diversion, namely PAD, and community organizations who long have led the call for increased pre arrest diversion. We know what we're talking about and we're excited that you

Good morning Maria Gaudio. Well, the Board of Commissioners has missed another deadline, hence another opportunity to do the right thing, the legal thing. By you have abdicated your responsibility to not appoint Jason Frazier to the Board of Elections or reappoint Julie Adams to the BRE. Your fines have now accrued since August 29 at $10,000 a day. It's over $2,100,000.

But I have a message for you from the taxpayers. That is not gonna come out of our money. That is going to come out of your personal funds. You've been told by three judges, you are mishandling county affairs, and you think you can do it with our money. No.

That's over. Just as in with the Fannie Willis case, the $17,000,000 that's owed, that's not gonna come out of our tax dollars either. She has to pay it. Additionally, last week, we find out that there was another $2,000,000 that the Biden administration gave her through a grant that had no other bidders, a no bid contract. They just gave her $2,000,000 in cash.

Well, the administrations want that money back too, and that's not gonna come from our tax dollars either. That's gonna be on her. We let and we're not gonna let this go either. We still have Natalie Hall's $1,000,000 fine and 1,000,000 case. And that was paid by the taxpayers. 15 after that too. This is why our home our our property taxes keep going up, up, up, and you can't even afford a measly $30,000 to feed the poor because of all this accrual. Thank you.

My name is Steven Eimel. I am a resident of Fulton County. And in light of the recent diversion legislation passed by the city of Atlanta, I'm here to ask you to do the same. I won't spend time retelling the same story that I told to Atlanta City Council but in short I spent a small amount of time in jail for speeding and was given leniency. Instead of being charged with a felony like I should have been, the officer lowered that charge to something far less serious and I'm able to stand here today because of that fact. But my first job nearly didn't hire me during a background check. You can be sure that if it was a felony that appeared on my record, I would not have had that job. I was privileged in that moment and many would not have received the same treatment. Diversion would be a step towards extending this privilege to those who are simply too poor to exist in society. Crimes of poverty are a failure of policy and should be treated as such.

Though there is no such item on the agenda today, I would ask that you all support a resolution to urge the officers of Fulton County to ensure that diversion is used where possible. Thank you.

Good day. This is not about my name is Shera Kennedy. I go by Kennedy. I'm with Just Schooling. Our company is somebody's gotta do it. It's not about Republicans. It's not about Democrats. We are thankful for Commissioner Mo Ivory and the team for your active engagement for civil engagement, but we want to address a

health

concern. Chairman Rob Pitts, our health hazard that continues to take place. I was here last time and we implemented some initiatives that we would like to get immediately taking place. One being the health hazard that's taking place with GDOT. On I-twenty in Lawton, as you can see, I have a PowerPoint presentation that depicts all the pictures and the encampments that are taking place along I-twenty.

As a result, this is a safety health hazard. We have the Boys and Girls Club there in that community which is Heartland. These encampments often show people walking around in nudity, drug activity. We also see a lot of loitering. We would like to have fines in place for these businesses.

We would like to also have GDOT immediately implement our solutions which is on page five and we want to implement field teams who directly go without into the districts and work with neighborhood associations to identify the problem areas that we're targeting in three eleven report calls. We want immediate action on I 20 running from west from Ralph David Abernathy, from the fire station on Lee Street, all the way to Lawton Street. There are people living underneath the bridges.

Fifteen seconds.

Understood. And we would need immediate removal of designated land. We would like to have designated land so that people that don't wanna move or leave, you

can put them over there

in tent city is what we would like to call it and service services we could just send over there to them

but staying under the street.

You, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you.

Rising. My name is Denise Rubin. I am a a community strategist. I am director of strategy and development advocates of the South. And I'm also a justice impacted person.

A person going into ACDC that's having mental health problems, I think it would be best to utilize a diversion center because as the young lady spoke, the system is a beast. So, it takes about five hours to get processed in, five hours for intake, five hours for placement, five hours for a mental health assessment, and five hours to get released. That's like twenty five hours. So, lose an hour going inside. And for a person that's never been incarcerated and having a mental health episode inside of there is not where they should be.

I think it's great for you all to utilize the diversion center and you know invest in the people, care for the people in that manner. You know we don't have an hour to lose, could be a life loss. So support the diversion. Alright? Thank you.

Mister chairman and members of the board, we have 10 speakers on Zoom.

Good morning, commissioners. The first person to speak is Robbie Caban. Robbie Caban. Robbie Caban.

Good morning. Fulton County continues to invest significant tax dollars into housing projects that primarily produce rental rental rental apartments. Housing is important, but rentals alone build wealth primarily for developers and landowners. If Fulton County is serious about economic stability and equity equity, the county must also prioritize housing pathways, access to housing pathways, level homes so working residents have the opportunity to build generational wealth. At the same time, Fulton County must address the growing deed fraud and title theft crisis.

Residents, especially seniors and longtime homeowners are losing their properties through fraudulent filings. This appears mostly on the South Side. The county should allocate dedicated resources as has been presented prior to prevent deed fraud, investigate cases, and protect homeowners. Second, justice reform, including workforce opportunity. Justice reform must include workforce opportunities.

Alternatives to incarceration must be paired with access to skilled trades and jobs, especially on the South Side so residents have real pathways to employment and stability. Third and lastly, government accountability. For more than a decade, Lifeline Animal Project, the county contractor for Fulton County Animal Services and DeKalb County Animal Services, Despite years of concerns raised by residents, staff, and volunteers, there's never been a full independent forensic audit of this contract. There's currently a public TikTok video posted by Lifeline volunteers with over 45,000 views in less than seven days stating many volunteers want to come forward but are afraid due to the confidentiality agreements and the allowing of banned volunteers who have come forward. Those volunteers have spoken directly to you on public record.

This video is visible to any member

of the

public meeting before.

Taxpayers deserve to know how contractor performance is measured and whether services paid for were fully delivered. How will taxpayers be compensated if services were not rendered? The last meeting, county manager Dick Anderson stated that animal control concerns were addressed.

The next person to speak is Janet Hill. Janet Hill. Hill.

Yes. Good morning. This is miss Hill again. I'm speaking today on the issue of criminal activity reported to this board of commissioners and the clerk of court, Shay Alexander. Research indicates there are at least three board members three board of commission members that have personal knowledge or know about these defraud crimes.

In fact, this issue of house stealing and its related crimes are both state and federal offenses. More importantly, research also indicates public officers are incentivized to be involved in these crimes for self enrichment. We will continue the fight for deep fraud crimes that impact homelessness, voter fraud, false arrest, health issues, and related deaths. Seniors, women, veterans, disabled are disproportionately targeted to steal their homes and their equity, and we will not continue to stand for it. One example is my neighbor, a senior.

Her home was stolen torn down. She was sued by the scammers. Later, the scammers admitted to the fraud to the courts. Then after the admission of fraud, they collected insurance money as well. The worst of this situation is that Fulton County helped to bury the crime. Again, we respectfully demand return of our stolen properties and restitution. Thank you for your time.

The next person to speak is David Garcia. David Garcia. Next person to speak is Denise Wells. Denise Wells. Next person to speak is Duke Virginia.

Duke Virginia. Next person to speak is Jason Tawe. Jason Tawe. Next person to speak is Kurt Beasley.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Kurt Beasley, and I am calling to speak this morning on as a taxpayer of 14 county, one in which I want to suggest that we follow the money. When we are granting funds, as we've granted funds to the fourteenth County Sheriff's Office, and this year, we granted $234,000,000, I know that I've been told you all as commissioners, you cannot tell the sheriff how to spend the money, but is there a way that we can create some form of check and balance system so that we can see how the funds are being spent so they are not wasted. That's all I have for today. Thank you all for your time.

Next person to speak is Jason Towey.

Hi. Thank you. Yeah. My name is Jason Toe, and I've just been interested, and just, just an update in kind of some of the work that's been done related to the FBI raid. Just off the disclosure, I'm a candidate for The US Congress District 7, and I'm just been really interested about how we will just work to make sure that, for the upcoming elections, whatever that mean, whether it's in the primaries or in the general, that there is a full state, and county control over them. So I've just been interested in understanding what what what's the work doing for that. Thank you.

Next person to speak is Randy Hubbell. Randy Hubble. Next person to speak is Robbie Huff. Robbie Huff. And this concludes our Zoom public comment.

Thank you. Continue, madam clerk.

Item moved up at the beginning of the meeting today on page nine twenty six dash zero one two nine, discussion and request approval of a jail population reduction initiative sponsored by Chairman Pitts and Vice Chair Abdul Rahman.

Alright. I'll be pretty brief in my comments. This is the wrong caption is on the on the screen.

Okay. It says jail population reduction initiative.

Okay. It's changed now. Okay. We've talked a lot about the jail population. The monitors address the jail population and as many of the public speakers say every almost every meeting there's some discussion about reducing the jail population.

And vice chair Abdurak Mahon had been working behind the scenes for some several months on this and I think that what we have come up with makes sense, doesn't cost the taxpayers any money. If any, it's a very small amount of money. I think it can be done just by those of us who have a role to play, in the justice system including, this board of commissioners. If we just do our jobs and this report that was presented which you all have a copy of, I wasn't aware wasn't aware of this report while we were working on the legislation but it actually outlines what all of the players in the justice system, what each one's role is. But in addition to outlining and talking about a problem, it offers suggestions as to what each of us can do to help resolve the overcrowding at Rice Street.

We all know that the Rice Street Jail when it was constructed was built to accommodate some 1,500 single bed inmates. Today, it's probably closer to 2,000 at Rice Street. And this plan that we've come up with, in my opinion, we can reduce that population significantly and I would just based upon a back of the envelope calculations by at least a thousand inmates just by implementing what I want to talk about today and what vice chairman wants to talk about today. But even if we were not cannot reduce it by a thousand, which I think we can, just 500 would free up 500 beds at that jail. So that's what I'd like to talk about today and hopefully get your approval of the plan and have the players who are involved in it began to work with us because there is a partnership.

The Board of Commissioners, we don't arrest anybody once they're arrested. We don't manage them once they're in the jail. We don't process them through the jail and nor do we hear their cases when they come to court. Our role is to provide the funds for those other players, parties as well as take care of the physical structure at the jail. So come on up mister. Vice chair, you want to say anything at this point or wait?

I'll wait, chairman.

Okay. So, first and foremost, you've heard about this last chance diversion opportunity. That is not Let be clear about what that means. It's point number one. What that means is currently when an officer makes an arrest in the field, that's the first chance for the diversion.

But it's my belief and the belief of others that they miss quite a few. And that last chance could take place at the jail. And we have a plan that I think is a workable plan that they can be transported from the jail if those that we miss, rather, can be transported from the jail to the diversion center. And you've heard a lot today about the diversion center. And this has worked in other areas, and I still don't understand why we have not implemented it to date. It's been talked about. It's nothing new. There should be a second chance after diversion. We all know that we spend 2 and a half million dollars a year. The city of Atlanta spends 2 and a half million dollars a year on this diversion center.

Initially, there were and it had it can accommodate up to 40, detainees for up to twenty four hours each day. The record to date, has not been very good. Initially, was three and I guess the high has been eight or nine. Quite a ways to go. And whether that's a real number or not, the 40 per day, I don't know where that number came from, but that's the number that we're we're working with.

But if that were used, that would go a long ways toward reducing the jail population. I can give you some ideas as to how many we think are in the jail that could be could be diverted, if you will. That would be probably about a 150 inmates that are currently in that jail that could be diverted. Ankle monitors, number two. We've been very successful using ankle monitors, but we've at one point there was a high of maybe 1,200, 1,500.

So I think implementing and this money is already in the budget. We're simply not using ankle monitors to the extent that we can. And there, I believe that there's another four or 500 in the jail right now who could be released and placed on ankle monitors. And and to the district attorney's credit, when she found out about this, she immediately sent out a memo, and I'm just gonna read one sentence from it, asking all lawyers to evaluate your current caseload and see if there are defendants in custody that are appropriate for an ankle monitor. And she's very serious about this and it's consistent with what I'm advocating here today.

And that's another 4 of 500 that could be released immediately. The money is already in the budget. The company that we contract with, they have the monitors, so there's no reason in the world why we should not be using them. Number three, what I'm calling text notifications of court appearances. And you'll know this if you go to the doctor that you're reminded frequently before your appointment by text that you have an upcoming appointment.

One of the problems, we're notify people by mail. Frequently they move. Frequently they just don't get it for whatever reasons. But if we were to use a system that's already in place, we already have the capability, No additional funds required. Just notify using text messages.

And the estimate is that's another 100 inmates that would not be in our jail. Then, of course, the low bonds would be the next. And we've talked about that, people in jail who were there because they can't afford to pay their bonds. And we talked with our pretrial people, and they believe that there are about a 150 such people in the jail. If they would just be referred to and take advantage of pretrial, that would be another 150 that we could release from our jail.

And lastly, we have inmates in our jail that I'm told that we at Fulton County, we have completed our review of them, but they're on hold in our jail when they should be transferred to other jurisdictions. They're there for a week, a month, two months, three months, just sitting in our jail when they should be in Cobb, when they're even out of state. The other thing about that, we don't charge those jurisdictions while we're paying for them. And that's just fine. Someone mentioned one earlier today that was public speaking.

I wrote it down. Don't know where I wrote it down. That would be a sixth one that we could implement. I'll find it. So, that's what I'd like for us to talk about today. The Vice Chair, you want to address this, you want to hear from Mr. Neraki?

Let's hear from Mr. Neraki first. I reserve my time for my comments.

Good morning, chairman, commissioners, Steve Naraki, strategy office. I I think today, chairman, if there are now that you've laid out your five point plan, if there are certain questions There's

actually six and I just forget what that other one is. Alright. I hadn't thought about it. I'll find it.

But we do have, judge McBurney here from Superior Court who can speak to a lot of these initiatives as a lot of them do run through Superior Court. Oh, excuse me. I know it was.

You mentioned that the sheriff now has the authority to dismiss charges without talking to him. And I don't know whether it's true or not true, but it's something that we can address. So that I may be a sixth

think we do have that expertise in the room right now. But if there are certain questions that we have from the board, I think we are happy to feel that. We also, as I just said, do have experts within these various fields here in Assembly Hall with us that if we call upon can come speak. But if there are questions, we're happy to take them as part of this discussion item.

Vice Chair?

Mr. Neraki, in your opinion, this is doable.

Yes ma'am. Each of these have been in flight. As you know, sitting on the Justice Policy Board, a lot of these are running through this as well as your co chair Judge McBurney. Some of these are directly being addressed, other programs are set up and we're just looking to optimize right now, but yes ma'am.

Thank you for that. The reason I asked you is because I can look around this room and I see several advocates and thank you for being here today. I've been sitting here for six years and I have heard the same conversation over and over again. Chairman, I applaud you and your leadership and even listening to me. I know sometimes you and I don't always agree, but on this we agree and we agree because to do nothing exasperates the problem.

If we were to build a new jail, you're talking about six, seven, possibly eight to ten years, county manager. If we were to build a new jail, we need diversion, we need no more finger pointing. George McBurney, we make sure we don't point fingers because we point a finger at how many are back at us. No more finger pointing. Less work together, put the egos on the shelf, and do what we need to do to get these people out.

The jail has been used as a prop for social media, it has been used for everything other than what it was supposed to be used for. If I had a magic wand to give the sheriff the money that he needs, I would do it, but it still would not solve the problem. The city of Atlanta and Fulton County, we have too many inmates that their only crime is being poor. We don't want to say it, but the reality is, unless we implement this now, we're going to see even a bigger rise in the jail population with the coming of the World Cup. You know it and I know it.

Chairman, please indulge me because I have been saying the same thing for six years and some of us up here have been saying it. The Justice Policy Board has been saying it. PAD has been saying it. Color for Change has been saying it. Devon has been so many of us have been saying it but not doing it.

And today is the historic day where I hope my colleagues would join me in doing something. Is it the answer to everything? No, it isn't. I will not kid you. But as they start to make sure that we have less people in the jail, it's a start to make sure that the services We have too many people sitting on that justice and policy board for the number of years that I have, people are falling through the cracks.

That's not their fault, judge McBurney. That's our fault. The people who don't have a residence and are getting court dates and are missing court dates, failure to appear and are getting arrested. I just want you to think about the sheriff, how many people are there because they are homeless or transitional or sleeping on somebody's couch? And they end up being the burning of the Fulton County taxpayer citizens.

What about the ones who can't afford the bond? Judge McBurney, you and I have had this conversation a gazillion times as well as the other members of the Justice Policy Board. Poverty should not mean imprisonment. Say it for the people in the back. Poverty should not mean imprisonment.

And so, I say to my colleagues today and to you respectfully, chairman, this does not end everything. But, it's a good starting point, it's a good faith effort and I promise you based on sitting on a board, six years sitting on the justice policy board listening to all the stakeholders in this building, listening to all of the individuals, whether they have had a loved one in jail, or whether they have been a victim of poverty, or whether they had mental health issues. We cannot criminalize our way out of this issue. We must start somewhere. So I will ask today that my colleagues get behind this.

Chairman, you and I have been looking at this for a long time and to my credit, I know you'll never give it to me, I was the one who pulled your arm, I was the one who twisted your arm because we got to do something. So to those of you stakeholders out there that are in support of this, thank you. It's not a complete answer to everything. But the quicker we can get more things done with less cost to the tax paying citizens of Fulton County, the more that we can do to help PAD in what they're doing, the more that we can do to divert, the more we can do to catch the people at the jail. Okay, the officers may, based on a judgment call, that see a business owner that's frustrated.

The business owners I have talked to are frustrated because it keeps it's a vicious cycle going over and over again. They call the police, pick the person up, the person gets locked up, another person comes in his place. It's a vicious cycle. And I ask here again that these are things right now with limited amount of money that we can do today to fix. And I thank all everyone who's here, the sheriff, the solicitor, Pat, not going call everybody's name because I'm going to forget somebody's name, but I appreciate you all being here today.

It is not in vain. Colleagues, please get behind this and let's support it. Thank you, chairman.

Commissioner Arrington.

I have absolutely no idea what y'all are talking about. The the agenda item was listed as a discussion item. I'm looking. There's no attachments. There are no documents.

So whatever these five or six ideas you're talking about, they were not included on the agenda. They were not provided to me nor to my office. Let let's back up a little bit because I've been practicing law in the court across the street for thirty years. So, if you have some ideas about what you want to implement over there, it probably would make sense to come talk to the only person on this commission that has been practicing over there for thirty years. Or the person that flew out to Seattle and brought pre arrest diversion back to Atlanta and Fulton County with Councilman Kwanzaa Hall in 2016.

There is already a second chance or last chance diversion. First of all, there was already pretrial diversion. There was already pretrial diversion. We flew out to Seattle and we brought back and implemented pre arrest diversion. So, there's already a second chance or at least two chances at diversion. And then, y'all went and created a diversion center in the city of Atlanta, which, as you said, has had underwhelming results. Two or three people, 80 people, a 100 people, and we spent $5,000,000 and the city of Atlanta spent $5,000,000. I have no idea what y'all are talking about because I don't have any paperwork on it. Where are the five points? Where are the six points?

Where where where were they submitted to on the agenda by Friday? Were they submitted? Why is it I'm I'm looking at what it says here, documents. The documents for this agenda item let let let me read it to you. It says, it's it's one sentence, requested action. Discussion, jail population reduction initiative. Where where where is it? Where is it? Why was it not provided to me? Why was it not provided to the only practicing a commissioner who has been practicing law for thirty years?

It makes no sense. It it makes no sense. Support it? I I'd love to support it if I knew what it was. If I had been provided a copy of it. How could I support something that I don't even get a copy of? Second chance, last chance diversion. We already have at least we There's pretrial diversion. There's pre arrest diversion. We got a diversion center. Mean, what are we talking about? Texting people. So, first of all, you have to do some legislation that would allow a text message to serve as formal notice to a defendant. Right? I've been talking to the chief information officer about us tracking and getting information.

I've said this on at least 10 occasions so that we can have anyone that interacts with Fulton County, we need all of their information in a database so that we can contact them. So, as you said, this is nothing new, but I don't even know what you're talking about because I wasn't provided a copy. It was not attached to the agenda. It's not a part of the documents. So, I mean, this makes no sense to me.

Ankle monitors. We started providing the ankle monitors. It went up to 1,500. It got too expensive. People were staying on there. No one was monitoring it. The problem that we have is that we don't have anybody monitoring this stuff, right? It got up to 1,500, we said, Okay, we're gonna cut that in half. We're gonna limit the number of ankle monitors. Nobody wants to be in jail for a minute, let alone a day, a week, a year.

Nobody wants to be in jail, Right? So, I mean, I understand. I saw this item as a discussion item and I'm happy to have a discussion, but I assume that part of that discussion would be providing the documents to the people so that we can have an informed discussion. But, not only were the documents not provided in advance, they're not even provided today right now so I can look at it. What is the five point plan? What is the six point plan? What are you proposing? I have no idea because we were not providing any information.

Commissioner Thorne?

I just wanted to ask our county attorney if she has can weigh in on if the sheriff can dismiss people and put them to pad directly.

There is some legal authority for the sheriff to decline to take misdemeanor cases but I would have to look at the specific application to whether he could direct them to PAD instead.

Because my understanding, a Chatham County sheriff implemented this during COVID and actually turned people away or declined admitting them into the jail. So yeah, if we could get some more expanded legal opinion on that, that would be great because that would be an easy thing for our sheriff to implement with some of these jaywalking or whatever is in the jail. And then finally, I thought this was a discussion as well. I agree with Commissioner Arrington that if we could just get some specifics and kinda get the county moving forward to just approving them to move forward with these six steps and bring something back. So I think it's just a general approval that this is a direction we would like to go and we can come back with more specifics but talk with our justice partners, see what can be done.

The text messaging, my understanding from yesterday was that we already do some form of text messaging, The clerk does. I'm not sure if you could speak to that.

I believe state court has started that program and we'd look to adopt it for superior court.

Is that something that we can we have the capability already, it's just a matter of returning on a module or utilizing a module?

My understanding and Judge McBurney might be better suited to speak to this but working with the clerk's office, a lot of it notifications going out through Tyler which has all of the information on there in cases. So it's just making sure that it's configured so that it can send those notifications out to the individuals. Again

I

think they're piloting with state court right now and we'd look to broaden that.

Okay. I don't

know if if I'm missing anything. That

would be great. Yeah, I assume we would still have to send out the required written notice and that the text message would just be a supplement to the official That written

part I don't, I can't speak to but yes, at a bare minimum would be a supplement to the formal written notice.

Okay, thank you. That's all I have.

Commissioner Barrett.

Thank you, mister chairman. There's a lot to unpack here. So I'll just start by saying I agree with commissioner Arrington and I think sort of half of what commissioner Thorn said about thinking this was not thinking. We were presented with a discussion item with three words, four words, jail population reduction initiative and not one single other shred of paper on this. Not one single word typed, not one email, not nothing.

My first hearing of a five point plan was via a news clip from the chairman on Friday and I have asked multiple times since then for I walked into the chairman's office several times and asked for a copy of the plan. I was not given anything. We sent emails to Judge McBurney and we know you were busy yesterday. Thank you. And he responded with an email at the end of the day yesterday. So that is the first time I even saw the points laid out. We heard through hearsay and rumor what some of the points of the five point plan were leading up to that. But again, I would argue that I still have no paper. And just

You just got just

got it. Oh, okay. There we go. Yes, this was just handed out apparently. So I want to say first of all, for setting the table here of how we would normally operate. I mean we normally need to put things on the agenda and have them in by the agenda deadline. We all make mistakes. Last two weeks ago my agenda item was late. I was late getting the supplementing documentation and members of this board said they were not prepared to vote on my item because I had not provided enough information. I had provided a resolution, a fully written resolution, but I did not provide it until the day before the meeting and that was not enough time for people to review it and then they had additional questions.

So that item just again to set the table is back on the agenda this time. All the information has been provided. So I think at a minimum there's no reason to take a vote on anything today. I think a discussion is welcome, but I think we need way more details about what these points are and how they might work to even say if this is the right direction. I think it's safe to say that all of us want to reduce the jail population. We need to do that. We want to do that. And I think whatever tools we choose to do that remain to be seen. Are there good ideas here? Sure.

Are there some of them that have already been tried? I think so. What is the real impact here? You rattled off some numbers Mr. Chairman and I apologize because I missed the first one but I believe you said when you said that you thought that this last chance diversion trailer could reduce the population by how many was that?

About 150.

A 150.

And I didn't pull that out of the air by the way. I've been meeting and vice chair and I've been meeting with the appropriate departments and personnel to come up with these numbers. So these are not pulled out of the air.

So, your total reduction numbers, you had a 150 for the trailer, 500 you said for ankle monitors, another 100 for texts and then another 150 for people on low bonds, is that correct? So that's what does that get us to 900, is that right? I'm not doing I'm not totaling it up. If somebody wants to check my math, they can. I would love to have there's a lot of experts in the room right now, so if it's possible, I would like to ask the sheriff to come down to speak to some of the numbers and some of the questions about what their department can or cannot do or what has already been tried, not tried, what have you.

There's some other experts here too.

I see that, yes.

Believe You bring them all

down.

I believe that the I saw the Solicitor General. Was he here? I thought he was here at some point. Stepped out. I know the public defender is here as well. So I'm happy to hear from anybody who has a stake in this. Think my first question, Sheriff, if you wouldn't mind coming up. I think my first question is on the trailer and I'll put this question to you Mr. Neraki as well as Judgement Bernie if you have input on this or anybody up here if you have input on this. But there was one comment that doing this trailer would be at no cost. So I'm confused about that. Can you explain how this would be at no cost please?

I think we're early days, Commissioner, in trying to figure that out. What we would try to do is an expense neutral structure so that if there are other dollars available that could go to offset any cost for the trailer but we are still exploring what the trailer would even look like right now.

Okay. So I think I would need to understand before knowing if this works what the physical structure is, what the cost of that structure is, who will staff it, what hours will it be staffed, who will it be staffed by, what are the staffing costs, and where does that come from? There was a rumor or somewhere I saw out there that it was the Fulton County Police Department that was put forward as somebody who might staff that. I don't

I know.

But I have have this is all rumors and Yes, ma'am. So I would like to know if is this gonna be staffed by the Solicitor General? Is this gonna be staffed by the sheriff? Who's staffing this? The public defender? Are they aware? I'm just curious what the plan is here and how many people need to be on staff?

So I think those are all the things that are being worked out right now. The Justice Policy Board, one of their committees, visioning committee is looking at what the structure will be and essentially every question you just ask Commissioner are the tenants that they're hammering out right now. So we don't have those specifics. It's still just we think it's these are the stakeholders. We're exploring what the dimensions of the trade war will even be, who's staffing it, if someone's diverted, how are they then getting to the diversion center after that. All of that's being considered right now. But no final plan.

I appreciate that. And thank you Mr. Naraki. And I appreciate that but it does sound like everything you're saying has a cost. So budget neutral means money has to come out of some other bucket. But these are if there's staff sitting there, they got to be paid. And I would love to ask sheriff to come forward if possible. And maybe you could help me out sheriff because I believe and you may know about this Judge McGurney as well, feel free to jump in. But I believe we have tried some things like this in the past at the intake or just inside the jail to do some last minute diversion. Can you speak to that?

So first of all, good morning, good morning. And let me lead with I was not contacted with respect to any plans, me nor anyone in the office. To your point, we would have had a discussion that says early,

a year and

a half ago, two years ago, especially when we had additional fundings through ORCA and otherwise, We actually had a solicitor at the back door. We actually had a public defender at the back door. PAD actually in the jail. And the program was working. And so, we were diverting as many people as we absolutely could.

And let it be known, I am pro PAD. I just this needs to be done in a way that there are things, to the Chairman's point, we are already doing, but you all deserve to know what that looks like. We already have a low bond program. As a matter of fact, both Commissioner Barrett and late as yesterday, Commissioner Ivory came and got three people, bonded them out because the bond was $85 When the bonds reach below $100 we actually eliminate all share fees involved in that. We then take an extra step to put additional funds on that individual's books.

So, for instance, we had a couple earlier this year, bonds with $10. So, we put $15 on their books and they can choose to either make bond or spend it on commissary, whatever that may look like. And to level set the conversation, just so I think it's valuable. We have currently 91 misdemeanors in jail. And we work closely with our Solicitor General, making sure that either those are domestic violence related and or mental health related so that we can get some additional services there.

Two, also level set. In our early release program, we started we've released two thirty three individuals. We have right now in our custody 83 people that have a bond of $1,000 or less. Since instituting, we have an inmate advocacy program that we started in 'twenty three, meaning that we have two individuals whose constant job it is is to communicate with the court, review the records, to your point, Mr. Chairman, and in that space they've reviewed over 50,000 records to determine how can we best help people out of this situation.

And then, as we go through court order production, what does that mean? That means a judge has ordered this person from the state. When we first took over his administration, we had hundreds of people in jail. We've worked with both all of our chief judges. Those court order productions right now have to come to court. You only get two weeks. You need to be prepared for trial. We have 36 individuals in that capacity. To your point, Commissioner Thorne, with Chatham County, they do accept misdemeanors. But to a more poignant point is that ultimately during COVID, we all stopped with judges' We stopped taking certain charges in, etcetera.

It is important to note that we have reached out to the county attorney's office. We're waiting on them to opine with respect to what can we not take. And so my proposal to add a seventh to yours, Mr. Chairman, would be to stop taking criminal trespassing charges. Right now, it's a misdemeanor. If you have your own facility, I. E. East Point, Alpharetta since it's open, city of Atlanta. Since taking on this program, we've had six zero four people. I met with Chief Sherbaum earlier this week.

Six zero four people that we could send directly to Atlanta. They could then that is a rest since the beginning of the year. So, are opportunities as we continue to go through this process. We have to, much to your point, Commissioner Abdul Rahman, set all our personal feelings aside and speak about how we help people. It is also important to note, and Chief Sherbaugh and I had a healthy discussion on this, and certainly Judge McBurney can expound upon it.

If a victim wants a person charged, it doesn't matter what kind of diversion is going on. They can be given a citation in some instance to hold, to stand trial in court or whatever that looks like. But if a victim of a crime does not want someone diverted, they have the right to have that person prosecuted. So, hope that answers your question. I have some more facts and figures.

If anyone needs them, we certainly can get them to you. But, we have done, right, yeoman's work. We have look, I continue to say I'm proud of the women and men of the Sheriff's Office. Our goal is equally to treat not just treat people fairly, but get them back out, get them to services that we can possibly move beyond where we are right now. And some of that comes up, if you recall, even when we had several contracts being held up by those providing services in the jail, which went beyond the walls of the jail, those were held up. And so, now, we are asking for the same thing.

I think we're all

on the same page of how we reduce the population. It's going to take person power to make it happen and just a very thoughtful process from there. So, I hope I answered your question.

Yeah. You did and possibly some of the other ones too. Solicitor General is standing right behind you. If you wouldn't mind stepping up and joining the party, sir. You mentioned Sheriff and I was alluding to this as well that there was a process at one point where you had folks I believe from your office, correct Mr. Solicitor?

We worked very closely together. For me when the ORCA funding ran out, those folks that my team had targeting the jail around the clock were eliminated. So we still got some pieces of that system that we created back in 2020, but much underperforming to be quite honest. And I will tell you that is because we've got six of the 10 lawyers that we need pursuant to ABA standards.

Okay. So basically you don't have the staff to have somebody there on the regular basis?

I do not. There'd be no way we could take people out of the already thinly stretched courtrooms and assign them to either a diversion center or a trailer. The appetite and the desire to do it is here strongly, But we certainly need the resources to do it.

And so is it your office predominantly that would need to be there to sort of help make this decision about who can be diverted at that point?

In the early stages after an arrest or a charging decision, informal charging decision by a law enforcement officer, if it's a misdemeanor, it would be a representative of the solicitor's office. I would also say that if it's a felony, some low level non violent felonies, think possession of crack cocaine. That would be something that we would need a representative of the DA's office to address. And I think we could both both of those teams could be helpful in expediting the second chance release program. And as everyone here knows, I'm always available and responsive even in the brainstorming process and do I hope bring some expertise.

Okay. I'd like to ask and I'm not quite sure who to direct this to, but I'd like to ask about the ankle monitors as well. I know this is something that and there's like a lovely group forming here, so you're all here. But we've seen, we've talked about this through a lot of our operational reports over the last several months that the numbers of people on ankle monitors have been going down. I know there's some discussion about why that's been the case and this might be a good one for you Judge McBurney to answer.

So you don't just get to stand there and watch everybody else. But what is your take on how those numbers increase? And I'm wanting I think overall and just this is to all of you and to everybody to sort of quantify the impact of some of these things because we also heard from the sheriff's office. They invite us every other you know every time there's a meeting to have a update from their office. And they always give us sort of the breakdown of who is in the jail based on the type of crimes.

And as of this week, it was 75% felony in the jail. So the remaining 25% are a variety of different things. And so I guess I'm just trying to quantify if there's approximately 3,000 people that are incarcerated. There's not it's going to be hard to take this number all the way down because that would assume that the rest of the people can be either on an ankle monitor or out on low bond or what have you and I don't think that's the case. So I'm trying to get to that answer but for the ankle monitor if you wouldn't mind. Sure.

Good morning everyone. Thank you for having me here. I am here at the request of the chief judge who was contacted by the chairman's office and the county manager's office when some of these ideas started percolating and he asked if I could fill in for him. And I'm happy to be here to answer questions both the court's perspective as well as Justice Policy Board. I may speak of some of the justice partners.

I don't speak for them, but we cooperate together. And I actually have had conversations with both these gentlemen about some of these ideas. To Commissioner Arrington's point, none of this is new except maybe the text messaging would be new for Superior Court, not on the state court side. But maybe we've lost focus or we haven't quite tried to slice it the way we are now. I'm gonna answer your question about echo monitors and I wanna come back to this last chance diversion because it isn't something we've done before and it's a little different from what you were asking about, which I think is what Commissioner Ivory's resolution is all about, which is post arrest diversion.

That's where you need prosecutors. But I'll come back to that. With ankle monitors, we did hit a high watermark during the pandemic. There was a concerted effort with the district attorney's office and the public defender's office, two other key justice partners to identify who are bond eligible people who maybe with the addition of ankle monitor we'd be more comfortable to release them. We got a little easy with the ankle monitors and more importantly we didn't put a time limit on them. And so we did hit a high water mark. We had a vendor where monitoring didn't work so well. We have a different vendor now. Monitoring works well. We are notified the same day there is a violation.

Now whether the courts act on it is on the courts. It's not on the vendor. But we're now at a steady run rate of around 500. That's a lower number in part because some judges still thought, Oh, we had a cap. We shouldn't be.

We reached a point as we were trying to shrink it that basically you couldn't come up with a new bond with an ankle monitor until you knew someone else's ankle monitor had come off. Get this one to put it on that person. We're not in that space now and that word has been spread. We also have a jail population that has changed over time. We have over 800 people in the jail who would never be candidates for ankle monitors: rape, aggravated child molestation, murder, gang related offenses where judges and prosecutors aren't going to be thinking this is a good ankle monitor case.

You may have an advocate on the defense side, but I want to manage our expectations about the universe of folks who would reasonably be eligible. The district attorney's memo to her staff was powerful, but it actually ended you didn't include the other sentence consistent with public safety. I do not expect her team her decision and her team's decision to say, What about ankle monitor for this guy charged with armed robbery? That's not going to happen. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at the population again to say, Are there situations where this makes sense?

Especially now that we've got that six month where we know the ankle monitor will come off because it's a burden even if you're not paying for it. There is resistance on the defense side to the ankle monitor because you're walking around with a box on your ankle and it's hard to get a job and do the things you want to do. So I think it is a potential avenue to decrease the jail population. Size TBD, the most it could be would be another 400 plus because then we would hit the top of our budget. Did that answer your question?

Yeah. I think the question really is do those people exist that are in the jail that could be do those 400 people exist? Is that is that a legitimate number of people who could be on an ankle monitor based on the crimes that they're being accused of? And I'm not quite sure if we know that and I and again like I'm I'm looking at numbers that were presented in the sheriff's office meeting yesterday and I'm trying to do quick math on my phone here to add things up. But one of the charts that's presented is the list of how many in custody for heinous crimes.

Don't know, Sheriff, maybe you can answer this. I don't know if they're duplicated, if they have more than one crime, or if that's the total number of people. Because the total number on the chart that is shown to us by Mr. Schoats, if I add that up, the people in there for heinous crimes and we're talking aggravated assault, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, and rape totals 1,673. So not 800. So I don't know if they're duplicated charges and that

may No,

no, And let me draw an important distinction.

Okay.

The sheriff's office determines their definition of heinous crimes. The single largest category in there is aggravated assault. Aggravated assault from typically a court perspective could be heinous, but aggravated assault is also what I just did could be an aggravated assault against the sheriff. Don't press charges.

Somebody Somebody saw it.

It was on camera. And so we often get cases where the charge is aggravated assault, and we ultimately end up sending it to the solicitor because it's reduced to a misdemeanor. That's 945 of the figure you just said.

Of are the 945 all that? I would assume There's there's a mix.

Oh, a mix. Because shooting at someone, if you don't hit them, is an aggravated assault, not an ankle monitor case.

Right.

But using harsh language and and and maybe making a lunge at someone also can be charged as an aggravated assault.

We have

plenty of people who get blonde ankle monitors aggravated assault. So I think that the nine forty five is an accurate number, but that population has potential for ankle monitors. I think the answer to your question is, right now, I don't think you find 400 people, but you might find 50 today. And then over the next two weeks, 50 more people are arrested. And within that universe, we ought to be looking for who is ankle monitor eligible.

If you take a static snapshot, maybe not 400, but over the next three months, you will see numbers like that. If we stay focused on, well remember we have ankle monitors as an option. So I think it's a lever to pull, one we should pull, and one we had moved back from a little bit because there was the financial pushback.

Okay. I I appreciate that. And I I will say I think this is all very good and helpful conversation and I think having this as a discussion item is great. But I think we're really at the early stages of of any decision making here because we don't know. We can't quantify how much we can impact the jail population, not exactly.

Well, we're never going to be exact, but we can't even a 100% ballpark because we don't know the cost of these things. We don't know if we have, we can say we're going to have a trailer for example, but if we don't give the right departments money to staff the trailer, then how successful will it be? So I have a lot of concerns about details here. Sheriff, can you talk briefly about the inmates on other hold conditions and what that number looks like in terms of impact and how that could be reduced?

And that's a really great point. So, we call them foreign holds. So, to the chairman's point, if it's Cobb County, Gwinnett, wherever it is, a couple things happen. They have to clear or adjudicate their case here first. So, right now we have 37 people that have foreign holds. And once they do that, one or two things will happen. If their case has been cleared or adjudicated, we will actually take them, right? Or we will go get them. Now, worst case scenario, we've taken three to Clayton County and they sent us five back, right? They have cases here.

So, we closely monitor that and the other piece becomes we will put people out on loan depending on the seriousness of their case in another county. So, again, I'll use Clayton County and my friend Sheriff Allen out there. He we took someone that was out there charged with murder. Their case ended up getting dismissed. Unfortunately, they let them walk out the door. We went and found them, but they were wanted back here. So the foreign holes right now specifically, the total is 37 and it ever evolves from that perspective.

So really, yeah I'm sure that number can go up and down but there's 37 and they you do try to move them as quickly as possible. Yeah. So they're not, it's not like we can immediately just take them to where they go and that's that.

No, their case has to be satisfied here. Yeah. For instance, late last night we got a call that Bartow County had someone that we have 4,000 warrants out now that have to be either we have to go get or satisfy. So, any person has stopped on that in that count. Bartow County is a good example last night. We went and got that person this morning so that they could stand trial there. I will give you an eighth opportunity here, Mr. Chairman, and that is quite simply and I know Judge McBurney, some of this again is not old, right? They used to have an FTA calendar, right, tell you to appear calendar, as well as a probation calendar. I'm not sure if you recall.

But, to give the judges the resources to have a judge who sees nothing but those cases. What's that? What is it? A probation calendar, right? Know judges like their calendars, right? And they say, Okay, this person came to me, but if you have an FTA calendar and you can combine that. Right now, we've got 600 people that would be able to move to a specific judge and have that. Again, I'm not, I stay out the judge's lane, just, you know, I'll let him opine on that, but to have a calendar, to support a calendar that would give them the resources to do that could affect over 500 people.

So it seems like there's some

That's number eight.

Oh, we're adding to the plan now. Got it. So look, think there's some great ideas here and I think it would be great for everyone to work together and I think the Justice Policy Board is doing some really good work and I certainly appreciate you, Madam Vice Chair for your efforts and passion about this issue. Would say yesterday by coincidence all of the commissioners were invited to go and speak to the elected officials meeting of the justice partners and I'm not sure if everyone did, but I did go and speak to the group and when I asked about the five point plan, pretty much nobody in the room, I think nobody in the room had actually even heard of the five point plan. So I think that's not the kind of coordination I would like to see us have with our justice partners.

Dare I say that over a year ago I worked for quite some time to pull together a criminal justice coordinating council for Fulton County which would have been perfect place to have some of these conversation. A subcommittee of that organization would have been the perfect place to have a lot of these conversations. That idea of working together was summarily thrown out by this body and that's unfortunate because I think it would have been a really good place for this. I think that idea is still out there. I would love for one of my colleagues to pick that idea back up and run with it.

I think it would be a great way to bring some of these ideas together for this five, six, seven, eight point plan. I don't necessarily have any further questions but because you're all standing there, I would like to give each of you, any of you the opportunity to say anything else you want to say about this because I think we're all just looking, guess I can only speak for myself. I'm just looking for as much information as I can get to say these are all the right five points or eight points or there should be others or one of them has already been tried and failed. I mean I'll point out before you speak Judge McBernie that in that meeting yesterday, our former CEO or COO rather Alton Adams was there in a consultant capacity and mentioned that some of the diversion centers are not working well in other cities and that and so there's so I think there's a lot of discussion about what the best things are. So I'd just love to give you guys an opportunity for any additional thoughts.

I'm going go first

this Please.

Good news. Friday February 13, high watermark, 21 people went through the diversion site. Great. Not two, not three, not eight, twenty one. That was the high watermark, but the trend is in the right direction. What I want to address is the idea that is being floated. It's pushed by Justice Policy Board. Some of you have talked about this before, about this last chance diversion. And it may have existed before. I'm not suggesting this is a brand new idea, but it doesn't exist now.

It's not pretrial diversion, which is what happens after you're indicted and the state gives you an opportunity to do some X, Y, and Z and then they'll drop your case. That happens now, but you're out on bond and it's a way to have your case go away without having to plead to the charges. The concept that is floated with this idea is having a last chance and we learned about this in Tucson where the officer who elected not to divert shows up at the jail and before the person is handed over to the sheriff's custody, this person is still divertable. Not once he crosses the line and is in the jail. Don't divert from that point onward.

There'd have to be a dismissal of charges, a prosecutor, or a bond set judge. This concept is pre prosecution, pre judge. You would have a supervisor from would have to be Atlanta Police Department, not Fulton County Police Department.

Just tell me what the rumors were.

And you know 90 plus percent of our arrests are Atlanta. And so there would be an Atlanta Police supervisor there who would say, Hey, this is a criminal trespass. Why didn't you divert? I didn't know we could divert. Or, The victim said, I want to press charges. Okay. That guy's going to jail because APD policy it's not a law. It's APD policy is if the victim wants to press charges, we don't divert. But maybe it's officer or it's one of those zones where for whatever reason they're not diverted and we have several zones where they don't. There is an officer, a senior officer there to say, You should divert this person. Okay. You're the sergeant. I'm the beat officer. I take this person to the diversion center. The other scenario, not uncommon, is I would have loved to divert, but he has a warrant.

What's the warrant? It's a probation warrant. What's that warrant for? It's for failure to report. It's a minor issue. It's not new charges. Georgia Justice Project and its warrant resolution clinic, one of the hallmarks of the Justice Policy Board, they would be there to say, Great. We know how this works. They've developed a protocol with state court where what we do is we hand you a next state to come to court because you hadn't been doing the probation things you were supposed to do. That's a divertable situation. It doesn't involve prosecutors. Doesn't involve judges. So we were calling it the last chance diversion. But it really is a let's double check this and scrub it. If you're being brought in because you shot someone in the head, you don't go through this trailer.

It's the criminal trespasses. It's the poverty based crime, the crisis based crimes where for whatever reason the officer chose not to and she's got that discretion.

But maybe it's because the

guy lipped off at the office. I'm not going to divert you. Or because it's voluntary, the individual who was under arrest may say, I don't know what this diversion center is. Take me to jail. I know I'll get three meals there. And then he gets there and he's like, I remember this jail. Could I do this diversion? You have a final chance to say, Yes, I want to go there. And law enforcement not the sheriff law enforcement would then take this person to the diversion center. We have hundreds of arrests every month that are divertable. We have dozens of arrests every month that are divertable where the officers are literally driving by the diversion center because it happens in East Fulton and they have to get to West Fulton to go to the jail.

So the main point

the funding part. A lot of this, the vision is because we're not running full run rate at the diversion center, we actually are not spending the full $5,000,000. It's budgeted, but we don't spend it because we staff up to demand. And demand has been lower, so there is excess in there. And so the vision would be, to Mr. Nouraki's point, we could shift some of that with board approval to fund this because it would have to be staffed. It's not AI operated. Now we don't pay APD's budget, but that might come out of the unspent $2,500,000 on that side. I just wanted to flesh that out because that is something different than what is happening now. And it's one of the that the Justice Policy Board has pivoted towards.

Now that diversion center is up and we're all feeling that same frustration that numbers aren't as high, well what are we missing? Is there a chance where we could redirect some because we know they're missed diversions?

I mean to be fair so basically what you're describing is like post arrest pre booking diversion?

Yes ma'am. Okay. But that's real important distinction because when you cross the threshold into that initial holding tank with the sheriff, those officers are gone. They have no authority over it anymore. And it becomes sheriff could deflect, I'm not gonna take criminal trespass. Prosecutor could say, We decline to pursue those charges. Or judge could say, I'm gonna give you a bond, but can't we do signature bonds anymore. Thank you SB 63. So that's the distinction I wanted to draw.

All good. I'm going to push back a little bit on the funding discussion only because if the goal is to do this work in this trailer that's going to ultimately increase the population at the diversion center, there won't be all that extra money because we'll need the full 5,000,000.

Yes, ma'am.

So so that that is a temporary solution. If that, you know, that trailer becomes, you know, is paid for with those funds that I don't know how long how many months that gets us through or a year or whatever, but that's not a long term funding solution.

It's not a

permanent funding solution but as you all like to point the numbers are $8.09, 10 a day. So it's

For now. A while. Well, 21 apparently.

Point of order. Point of order.

What's your point of order by CEO?

Point of order is with all due respect Commissioner Barrett, there's evidently some information that you need to get. But we have a lot of stakeholders here. You're hashing out stuff over and over again, different stuff that you may or may not know. And I think we do a disservice to all of the stakeholders here as well as the tax paying citizens of Fulton County for you to carry this as long as you're carrying it. I understand you are just as passionate as I am, But, we have some other individuals that need to speak and we also are looking at an issue that we are trying to find a solution for today.

And so, having this panel of individuals who are experts, every last one of them are expert. Every last one of them have an agenda, chairman. And somebody got to say something.

Okay.

I was basically about to wrap up anyway. But I would like to say it's a discussion item. The purpose of a discussion item is to discuss. So I'm sorry that I like to discuss things and actually want facts when nothing was given to me on paper. Sorry. My apologies for wasting everyone's time. Thank you all for your answers. I appreciate it.

Vice Chair, I'll do Rockwine.

Can I get Pat to come up? Thank you gentlemen. There's not anything I need May I make

one point though? Please,

Would you all

Give me one second. Give me one second. Let the solicitor speak and then you can come up, Pat. Go ahead, solicitor.

Thank you so very much. I would encourage for discussion placing both an assistant public defender and prosecutors at the early stages even beyond law enforcement because ultimately the prosecutors got even broader authority to make that early charging decision and presently and I think going forward, the prosecutor and the public defender's office are always going to be empowered with additional resources beyond in addition to law enforcement and working closely. This is another important point and it dovetails into all of the discussion, believe. Public safety, we're second chance prosecutors in my office. We want to reduce the jail population.

We've gotta be cautious and make sure that when people are issued a citation, which I'm in support of a citation in lieu of arrest, that we actually capture their name, their identification, a photo or fingerprint, and when that did not happen a number of years ago in another local jurisdiction, they had an immediate increase in failures to appear in court. And so, I would ask that you fold that into the way you examine this issue. And thank you.

Well, I'm glad to be here to represent for the short women in this conversation. I'm happy to, if I could, I could start my discussion with just to what solicitor Gammage just raised and speak a bit to our support for the idea of this second look opportunity. Is that okay?

That's

fine. Awesome, thank you. So again, Moki Masias, Executive Director of PADD. As I think you all are aware, we have been the steward of pre arrest diversion in Fulton County as the result of a long community process with both county commissioners, city council members, and many community members for over the past decade. So we're obviously deeply invested in the success of pre arrest diversion.

We're very happy we have the infrastructure that we do now with a 20 fourseven facility. And we have been discussing this idea of sort of the safety net for those individuals who are not immediately diverted pre arrest for many, many years. So I personally am thrilled that this discussion is being had and that there's some momentum around it. I do want to say that for us what has been a key facet of pre arrest aversion, the golden rule if you will, is that people are diverted pre arrest because we all agree that the concerns that led to that arrest are better served completely outside of the criminal legal system and instead by the social services system. Right?

That is the premise of pre arrest diversion. That is why it is pre arrest diversion and it is not pretrial diversion. Right? That is why we are expecting that the arresting officers are using their authority discretion to make that decision to say, you know what? This is a charge that is simply not to be handled within the criminal legal system. And what that does is two things. It, one, allows that person to get connected immediately to the kind of resources that are gonna actually address the concerns in the first place. Right? It is better for public safety because we're addressing root causes. But it does another thing which I assume would be of deep interest to all of you.

It also removes these situations from an already overburdened criminal legal system. Right? It means that the public defenders don't have to represent them. It means that Solicitor Gammage's team who's clearly already stretched as he spoke to does not have to prosecute them. Right?

And of course it means that our jail which is already a place that nobody wants to be is not further taxed. Right? And so when we are looking at a second chance to identify those individuals that again can be entirely deflected from this system, we wanna make sure that it is consistent with that golden rule. That in fact, if we were to I think there's a slippery slope here. Commissioner Ivory and I had this conversation yesterday and I appreciate the conversation that we had.

Because there's a slippery slope if what we do in order to facilitate the utilization of pre arrest diversion is to actually bring that system into pre arrest diversion. Right? I have to respectfully differ with solicitor damage that I don't believe that is it is the role of prosecutors nor the public defender's office to be in the conversation about whether an arresting agency should use their discretion and authority to arrest or whether they should divert, right? That is a question that needs to be resolved outside of our traditional criminal legal system. Otherwise, I mean, basically are what are we basically just gonna be having court inside of the trailer outside of the jail?

We don't wanna set that up, right? It becomes a very, very sticky situation. I'm not an attorney. I hope that judge McBurney will correct me if I'm saying anything that's not legally factual. But I will say for doing this work over the last ten years, what I have seen is that systems want a system. Right? We're comfortable with the actors that we have in place to do what they do. And what we are trying to do here is to do something entirely different. Right? To say that we know that there are individuals who are coming into that jail every single day that could be entirely deflected from the system and do not need to put any of our criminal justice resources into play.

And so I I believe with the trailer, what we really need to lean on is two things. One, I think we need to lean on our our relationships with law enforcement agencies in Fulton County to say, listen, this is a big culture shift for your officers. Can you support your officers by making sure that you have the right people in place to do that second look? Right? I think we also need to continue working with our sheriff, our prosecutors to say, can you back up pre arrest aversion by saying, don't bring us these charges. Don't do it. Don't let them in the in the in the jailhouse door. Right? And if you do, I'm gonna dismiss that charge of first appearance, period, right? So I think there's a role for everybody here.

I think it's really important that everybody plays in their lane.

Thank you for that. This is what leads to my frustration and we talk about it in the Justice Policy Review. We do a whole bunch of talking about nothing. Everybody down here has a valid point, everybody from the solicitor, the sheriff, judge and everything. But when are we going to do the verb word action?

We continue to talk, talk, people say, and which is completely disingenuous to me, well, I've some some so and so said this yesterday and I don't understand this and this and that and I don't know. Listen, I'm not an attorney either, but I know the DOJ has said we have to reduce the population chairman. And running around in circles talking about well, I don't I didn't do this and you didn't do that and I need this and you need that gets us nowhere.

May I say something? That's the whole purpose in this. It's too much talk, it's

time to It's too much talk. We had a person come here this morning doing public comment section. She was a victim of identity theft and ended up in the jail and still going through a whole bunch of stuff for something she didn't cause? When are we going to stop running around in circles trying to say, well, if I don't if I I don't agree with this person, then I'm against it. I agree with this person, I'm forward.

What what are we going to do with the next person that dies in the jail? We go we go give them this conversation? What are we going to do with the next person that needs behavioral mental health treatment and fell through the cracks? Well, we tried to do something but everybody had an opinion, everybody said this and that and we didn't do anything because I've watched this for six years. And I'm sorry, chairman, I'm not going to be quiet.

I spent too many days in your office, I spent too many time in those justice policy review board meetings. And one thing is we have to do something. The time for talking is over. We need to direct our county manager to look at this. I know you want it nice and and printed out and everything.

Two things I want to happen, and I will go on record saying this in front of everybody. One, I want the most minimal impact to the Fulton County tax paying citizens. Two, I want us to work in house with the departments. What do I mean by that? Madam d a, the county has a program that will pay for ankle monitors.

They have the capacity to pay for 900 ankle monitors. Currently, they have approximately 500 persons on ankle monitors. I am asking all lawyers to evaluate your current case load and see if there are defendants in custody that are appropriate for an anchor monitor. To my first appearance and preliminary hearing lawyers, you all would be the greatest driver of placing people on anchor monitors. Please do so where it is appropriate.

Please know nothing in this email should be interpreted as the DA saying, place dangerous felons or repeat offenders with violent new offenses on an anchor monitor. Can we move past that conversation? All of us are on the same page, we are not going to put John P. Q. Public at risk on an anchor monitor when we know he has a violent history, we know what he's charged with?

Can we shut that down? Because what we do is go in a circle over and over again while the Department of Justice is saying Fulton County. All of us will take the black eye chairman, and please allow me to say this, chairman, If we do not do something, we will all take the black eye for doing nothing. All of the conversation, all of the I didn't see this, all of the well, we had something in the past. How many people gotta die?

How many people gotta go to jail because they're poor? How many people gotta be familiar faces because they have behavior, health, mental issues? They have no address. Each one of us could go and use our own personal funds and bond out 10 people daily, and we still would not have the problem solved. Those who are listening to me now, I'm sorry, I apologize if I upset you with something I said.

I'm asking right now, I am begging. This is a plan that will help decrease the jail population, and is that what we want? Or we want to pontificate and say, well, didn't see this and I didn't see that. You saw the DOJ report? You saw it.

You talked about it. The sheriff can't make people come and work for Fulton County if he don't have the tools he needs, he can't make them. So we have to give him less people to maintain. What are we going to do? Let's stop playing with people's lives. Let's stop politicizing. Let's stop well, I want my agenda in. I want my agenda in. I want my agenda in. We must do something.

This is a directive to let the county manager know on these points, what can we do in house? What money can we move that we're not using already to make this happen and stop playing with people's lives?

Commissioner Thank Eric chairman. Miss Arrington?

Commissioner Abdul Rahman, you you may be on the inside and you may have gotten that piece of paper but none of the rest of us got that piece of paper.

I understand. Unfortunately. I understand your concern.

You know, my question, I think, I wanna be sure about this because, well, a couple of things. Number one, I think Commissioner Barrett, Judge McBurney was asking you was this post arrest. I think this is still pre arrest. I think this is last what what we're talking about is the last chance pre arrest diversion safety net before they go into the jail.

Yes.

Okay. And then I wanna ask the sheriff, did you say that you were not contacted about this plan at all?

No, I was not. I was not.

You were not contacted about this plan?

I was not nor was anybody on my team.

Mister Solicitor, were you contacted about this plan? No, sir. I wasn't contacted. Commissioner Barrett wasn't contacted. Commissioner Ivory wasn't contacted. Commissioner Thorne wasn't contacted. There's no agenda item. There's no document. There's no plan. There's no nothing.

This is ridiculous. It's a political stunt. It's a political stunt. It's absolutely ridiculous. Now, if we wanna have a serious conversation about reducing the population at the jail, mister D'Rickey is up, and I've asked him two times at the last two meetings to give us information and data to tell us why the numbers have gone back up to 3,000.

And so I'm waiting for that operational report, and I'm waiting for those numbers and that data, and I'm gonna have a conversation conversation with the sheriff and the solicitor, and then we can talk about taking some action. How in the world are we gonna take any action when nobody got not one scintilla of information? The sheriff wasn't even contacted about this alleged plan. How are gonna plan to do something in in the jail and not talk to the person that runs the jail? How is that possible?

What planet is this? How we how is that possible? And to Moki's point, because it is pre arrest diversion, you've gotta go to the city of Atlanta and have them involved because it is an officer. It doesn't even get to Fulton County unless and until they get arrested. If they're not making it to the jail, it never even comes in our realm.

It's a city of Atlanta decision because it is pre arrest. Pre arrest, the officers have the discretion to decide whether they're gonna put them in there. And thank you for pointing out, I think I I can't remember who said it was either Mockey or judge McBurney that I think it was maybe judge McBurney that that is a city of Atlanta policy that if the victim wants them arrested. Right? That's no law.

So we've also gotta pick up the phone, have a conversation and relationship with the people in the city of Atlanta. The council members, the mayor. Right? So, all of this is just a political stunt to try to push something out before an election because he didn't even pick up the phone and call the sheriff. Good God almighty. What in the world is going on? Look at that's leadership?

Commissioner Ellis, you have the floor.

Thank you, mister chair. This is where focus goes energy flows. And I do appreciate the chairman raising and bringing this forward. It's a messy discussion because it involves a whole lot of people, right? But my focus and I think probably our near term focus should be on the first two items which were mentioned which would be the last chance diversion and increase in the ankle monitoring because these were two board initiatives.

And in many respects they don't necessarily involve certain some of them involve all. But one of them involves really sort of less of our overall justice partners being the last chance diversion. And I want to thank Judge McBurney as well as Vice Chair Abder Rockman who spent a whole lot of time on this Justice Policy Board. Mean, had my staff has attended most of these. I haven't because it's a whole lot of time.

A whole lot of effort and energy has gone into that and a lot of discussion. And I'd like to point out, and you reaffirm this, Judge, since you chaired or co chaired this thing, we have City of Atlanta representatives on the Justice Policy Board. So this concept of the last chance diversion is something that's not foreign to both governments. Is that correct and fair?

That's correct and fair.

Yeah, okay. So you know I would encourage us and I want to give District Attorney Willis credit for you know getting the word out on the ankle monitoring piece. Know None of these things individually are going to be the one panacea. It's all about a lot of different things. And I think we've got a real opportunity with two things which have been board led initiatives where we've had we've plowed in a lot of work into it.

There are a lot of good thoughts around it. And we're very close I think to sort of tipping the iceberg in getting those to the utilization that they need as Judge McBurney notated with some of the utilization numbers that we most recently saw. So it would be my thought that I think these other ideas are worth exploring but perhaps they aren't number one, necessarily going to be potentially as meaningful. But also number two, they have some other things that maybe haven't been quite as flushed out as these top two. And I think focus some time and attention near term on those two things could have a very meaningful impact and I would encourage us to do so.

Commissioner Ivor, you have the floor.

Thank you so much Mr. Chairman. And I saw that the public defender had walked out and I would hope that he would come and join this group because I do also believe that he is a part of the conversation. And thank you Commissioner Arrington for saying hard things that need to be said about how this happens to bring itself to the floor now and about how these problems have persisted. So whether someone has been here for six years or twenty or one, we have seen that this problem in the jail has been going on for a long time and nothing has been done.

And these ideas are not new. I've had an opportunity to speak in-depth with each one of you about this. And I believe that what this reveals in this rushed approach to an initiative is a culture of lack of communication and collaboration that we have in Fulton County amongst this board. It almost shines it so brightly that nobody would be able to miss it. It would be so important for everybody on this board to be able to understand this plan.

I want to support anything that is going to I mean we've had so many conversations about that. Wanting to support anything that will bring the population down, that will prevent the more than forty deaths in the jail that have happened since 2020, which is six years ago. So to pay close attention to this right at this moment is so crucial and actually has been crucial for so many years. But the thing that is even more crucial is that we get it right this time so that it does not continue to be an issue that we have to keep revisiting over and over. So I support all, I support all of these actions and even Chairman, as you were adding, as you were hearing things, I think is a wonderful item because what you're doing is listening to the people that are in this day to day and saying, oh, okay, let's put that on there as well.

Which just goes to show that this needs to be reviewed some more. And that every person standing right there needs to be a part of including their input into this process. So I want to make a friendly amendment to this motion that we hold this item until the time as such that you have an opportunity to speak with each of the people that are so crucially a part of each of these items that you've mentioned in this initiative. Obviously, Pad and thank you, thank you for taking the more than hour plus time from your dinner yesterday for us to have that conversation. Judge McBurney, we talk all the time and I thank you for that openness and also for teaching me about the things that I don't know about.

And for the rest of the gentlemen standing right there, we are in constant partnership trying to just figure out what the solutions are and I thank you for that. So PADS should be involved in that first thing. The maximum use of ankle monitors, I've talked to the county manager just yesterday and he assured me that the county would pay for that. That has been one of the issues that the person that was being put on the ankle monitor actually had to pay for that themselves. And that is something that we should make available in our funding.

And I hope that that and it sounds like the district attorney is saying that that money is available as well. The text notification, I spoke to the sheriff about this and he said one of the problems is that a lot of people don't have phones. Right? So how are we going to work around the issue, find if we can find if we can find the mechanism to text people but we also have to think deeply about the people that get out and do not have phones. So there are gaps in a lot of this analysis which I think is a wonderful starting point but needs to involve everybody chairman that has a role in voting for something like this.

Not just the big four but the great seven. Change the culture of the way that we deal with each other in Fulton County and collaborate so that everybody can understand what it is that you want to do. That's leadership. Bringing people down here and asking them to speak that have never even seen the plan is not a good use of our time, taxpayer time or the poor people that are in jail because they have $85 bonds. I don't care about anybody saying that I'm trying to politicize something or use social media.

I went in 2025 to get three people out, I went in 2026 to get three people out and I'll go in 2027, 2028, 2029 elected or not because it is the right thing to do. So I want to say that I want to collaborate with each and every one of you so you can teach me what I don't know and help me to improve on the things that I already know. And I'm committed to changing the culture of Fulton County so that there's not a big four mentality but a great seven who serve the constituents and the residents of Fulton County and the employees and the people who come under our system. That's what I would like to see. So that's what I'm committed to.

Thank you for taking your time today. So I want to offer a friendly amendment to hold this item until the time at which the great seven can collaborate with the wonderful stakeholders to get everything that we need into this plan so that this can be the final time that we try to resolve the issues at the jail.

The motion on the floor is to approve motion by Vice Chair Abdul Rahman, seconded by Commissioner Thorne. Now you are offering a friendly amendment. Is?

It? It's a motion

to hold. Just a a minute. I'm using your words. You said a friendly amendment.

Okay. Sorry. Would like to correct that.

Can I preside please? Sure. Thank you. You said a friendly amendment. What you really mean is a motion to hold. Correct. Alright. There's a substitute motion to hold. Is there a second?

Yeah, I already second it. Alright. There's a

motion to hold by Commissioner Herrington. Any discussion on the substitute motion to

hold? Yes. Will we get a copy of the plan before the middle of the meeting? That's for you, Mr. Chair.

You have the plan. It is a plan. The motion on the floor

is substitute motions to hold. Wow, that's leadership.

Substitute motions to hold. Let's vote please. Alright, just a minute. Just a minute. You want to speak on the motion to hold? Alright. Commissioner Barrett wants to speak on the motion to hold.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With all due respect, this is not a plan. It is a list of five initiatives with some vague actions and some potential reductions and a note that there might be some costs. So I'm not quite sure what we would be voting on on the underlying motion.

So to me, there there is nothing to vote on. So I absolutely would support a motion to hold because there is literally nothing to vote on other than some ideas that were handed to us mid meeting which many of many of which have merit. We we heard from our our colleagues here many of which have merit. But yes, there is literally nothing for us to vote on. We've been we've talked many times not by my lead that the public needs time to review things. The public, we received this five minutes ago, an hour, whatever. The public has not seen this at all. So this is not the public cannot come and comment on a plan if they have never seen the plan.

Not even the sheriff has seen it.

Just a minute.

Well Not even the sheriff

has seen it. So I think it's I think it's irresponsible. You're out of

order too. You're out of order too for bringing that here. Point of order. On the agenda. Commissioner Arrington, you're

out order.

Order too. Point of order. You shouldn't have ever brought it without bring giving it to anyone here or nor speaking to the sheriff. I know and you are too. I know and you're out of order too.

Thank you. So I think it's irresponsible of us to even bring this to a vote right now and I appreciate, I very much appreciate the passion, the action. I'm in support of pre arrest diversion. I'm supportive post arrest, pre booking diversion. I'm supportive of all the diversion. And I think, look, I would love to ask a question. I know this is not on the motion to hold exactly. If you would just bear with me for a moment. When was the first time, I don't know who can answer this, county manager, Mr. Naraki, sheriff, somebody, when was the first time that the Fulton County Jail was so overcrowded that people had to sleep on the floor?

What year was that? That? Anyone? More than five years ago? More than ten When years was the first time? Do we know?

So I will defer to a comment that the chairman made prior to me taking office. So it's about ten years ago.

So ten years ago, we had people sleeping on the jail and that's what we're guessing here but something like that. So I think it's fair to say that this new urgency today while appreciated is late. We've had people sleeping on the floor in this jail for a decade.

Just hold.

I'm asking for your The motion

on understand I asked for point

of personal privilege to say what understand that Sorry I you're denying my right to speak.

The motion on the floor. You have the motion to hold.

It is irresponsible for us to take any vote today on a plan that we don't have. This is not a plan. There there is no urgency. There is no reason to vote today. If there wasn't urgency ten years ago or in 2022 when Lashawn Thompson died or in 2023 when the complaint was brought by the DOJ or 2024 when the DOJ report came out or last year or this year or anytime during budget season, what is the urgency today for us to take any vote? Absolutely, we should hold on any vote today because it is irresponsible to the Fulton County taxpayers, to the people in this room who do this work every day, and to the body sitting here who never got this information to vote on anything today. We are voting on smoke and it's ridiculous.

Alright. Commissioner Ellis. Alright. Go ahead Commissioner Thorne then Commissioner Ellis.

I think it's a bit hypocritical What's

it on the floor is to hold?

That we need a detailed plan. This is a discussion. We used to have discussions all the time and then from the discussion the county gets a directive to start working on things, then they come back with a more detailed plan. That's when all the justice partners come into play is the development of the fine details of that plan. This is just a directive that we're taking some action to start moving forward, to start moving forward with those discussions.

All the time we're getting actual resolutions up here that are out of the blue dealing with the county health department and hadn't even talked to the county health department. That's happening all the time, day in and day out from the same people that are criticizing that they don't have a detailed plan here. We need to start action and this is one step in taking that action and moving forward. I imagine if there's some spending or some money that we have to reallocate that that money will come back to us and then we'll approve or disprove particularly for that item if the trailer's gonna cost x amount of dollars, staffing the trailer is gonna cost and we can't find money in the budget somewhere to cover it, then it will come back to us and we'll have to approve the individual actions of the plan. But to have a detailed plan right now would take probably a month or so.

And this is just starting the ball rolling, starting those discussions and I hope you all are included in those discussions moving forward. I hope, Sheriff, that you are integral in that plan, that you are the first to be contacted if we're putting a trailer outside your jail. But I think this is just a good start to start doing something because like Commissioner Abdur Rahman said, doing nothing consequences or delaying also has consequences. I don't think in two weeks if we hold this and come back we're gonna have a detailed plan. I think it's gonna be a plan that's gonna morph, spending's gonna come about.

We're gonna stumble on some things that we can't enact on. But we'll have to take prior step future steps that we will have to approve and have a more detailed plan coming forward. For that reason, I am not gonna vote to hold.

Alright the motion on the floor is to hold. Commissioner Arrington you have the floor.

Yes. Again this was brought as a discussion item. When it was sounded, it's on the agenda. It was by the clerk. It was said that it was going to be an action item.

There's no documents, no resolution, no action plan, no nothing that was provided to us in advance of this meeting. Halfway through the discussion, we got some notes about what the five point plan was, which apparently had been shared with some people on this commission but not with others. So I want you all to pay attention to what's going on. Pay attention to what's going on. I'm not part of the gang of four.

But pay very close attention to what's going on. Now for me, I would rather measure and cut once. I don't wanna cut 10 times and then come back and measure and try to see if it fits. I'd rather sit down with our sheriff and have a conversation. I'd rather sit down with a commissioner that's been practicing law for thirty years and then knows and understands the intricacies of the justice system, the jail, and all of that.

Right? But they don't wanna do that. They wanna cut me out. They just wanna cut me out of this discussion. They wanna cut the sheriff out of discussion, cut the solicitor out of the discussion, cut the public defender out of the discussion, and we're just gonna move forward with something that we thought about, that we dreamed about last night, and had somebody type up. Are you kidding me? If you think that is leadership, then good lord have mercy. This is preposterous. Do it proper and then tell somebody they're out of order. You're out of order for not submitting the information along with the agenda by Friday at 10AM.

You're out of order by not contacting the sheriff. You're out of order by not contacting the solicitor general. You're out of order by not contacting the public defender. You're out of order by not contact contacting PAD. You're out of order by not contacting Mike what's your name, sir?

Steve Naraki.

Steve Naraki. Steve Naraki. Because I asked him at the last two meetings to come back for two meetings in a row. I asked for information to under so that we could understand the data so that we could understand the data to know why the jail population has increased back up to 3,000. So, you are out of order, sir.

Vice chair Abdul Rockman, you have the floor.

Call to question.

Question has been called. Just vote on the call of the question. I'll second.

Open that one. And the vote is open on call the question.

This is to call the question on the What? Motion to This is to call the question on

the motion to hold.

Yes. Correct?

Alright. Point

of order. Okay. This is this is the call to question.

Just a minute on the call and the question. The motion we're not gonna discuss this. There's no more discussion. The motion on the floor is to hold us. Call and the question. Is a

this is a vote on the call not on the motion on the on the hold. It's not on the hold. This is not on the motion. This is on the call of the question.

My question was you're gonna vote on the call of the question and it would just affirm that Vote discussion when the question has

been called, it's promptly before us, the has been called, it's promptly moved and seconded. Let's vote on the call, no more discussion.

And the vote is open, I'll call the question. And the motion passes, six yeas, one nay.

Alright, now back to the motion.

Motion to hold. And the vote is open on the motion to hold. And the motion fails, three yeas, four nays.

Alright, back to the main motion which is to approve.

Point

of order, approve what? Approve what?

There's no more discussion. The motion is

No. No. No. No. This is not a call of the question. No, sir. Just a minute. No, sir. This is not a call of the question.

Just a minute.

Approve what? Just

a minute.

Approve what?

I wanna be Approve what? You allow me, I'll explain.

Go right ahead. We're waiting. We're all waiting on you to explain.

The original motion on floor was to approve the five point plan that was before us for discussion and approval. That's what was before us.

Sir. No, sir. There was no five point plan before us when this agenda item was called. No, Absolutely not.

The motion on the floor is to approve properly moved and seconded. You wanna be heard, you wanna be heard. Allow you to be heard. Commissioner Hiry, now go ahead, you have the floor.

Would like to

The motion on the floor is to approve. You have the floor? Following Commissioner

Yeah, I would I said previously about the idea that this should be something that we unanimously agree on as a body because this is a problem that is urgent in our county. It is in fact our biggest crisis right now. In fact, I consider it to be a state of emergency. I would hope that the members of the Big Four would have enough respect for the three other commissioners here to allow more discussion and more input from the partners who have said that they were not at the table when this was drafted. If any of the three had presented a one page document after the agenda was set during the meeting, I can't even tell you how fast a commissioner would have made a motion to deny.

So, I would hope that you could have the same respect so that this could be, like I said, a collaboration of the Great Seven instead of a force by the big four to do something that has not been thought out well, that has not been consulted with the partners that are in fact the ones that will have to execute upon this plan. And certainly, if there are two lawyers that sit on the commission that they at least could have seen and a third advocate for justice who is greatly educated on this topic could have been included to see the materials that are supposed to accompany an agenda item before the deadline on the Friday before the meeting, that would just at a minimum be the courteous thing to do for your colleagues. At a maximum, it would be the absolute right things to do by the citizens of Fulton County who have a right to see the plans, come for public comment like all have utilized at different moments in time and be in either support or opposition to something that will so greatly affect so many citizens in Fulton County moving forward. Thank you.

Alright, Commissioner Barrett followed by Commissioner Alice.

You Mr. Chairman.

Motion on the floor is to approve.

Yeah, somebody needs to turn their mic off. A lot of feedback. I would like to know specifically what we are voting on. We have a motion to approve a five point plan. What are the five points specifically word for word?

What is the action that will be taken by the county manager's office following this meeting to act on the plan? Whose job is it to act on the plan? I don't know what we're voting on other than a five point plan that has not been able to be considered by the public at all. We know we have a public that loves to comment on and come back and give us feedback via email, via public comment, via Zoom public comment when there are things on the agenda. A preliminary discussion item for this, fantastic.

Happy to be a part of Great ideas here? Absolutely. What are we voting on? Normally when we vote on something, there's a piece of legislation, a resolution, a specific single action. This is none of that. It's a vagary that does a complete disservice to everyone who works in justice and to every citizen in this county who has a right to have more. So I appreciate the passion but this is a very disturbing way to legislate. We don't have committees here. That's something that is going to be brought up later. We don't have working groups here.

We don't do. We are supposed to according to our laws and rules have a working group once a month. We don't have it. And I agree with whoever said earlier, I think it might have been you Commissioner Thorne that people bring a resolution with no anything and we vote on it. I don't think that's a great way to legislate. I think we should be having more conversations and discussions and committees and groups or whatever it might be to have more thoughtful legislation. It's bad enough that we do it the way we do it with one piece of legislation being brought by the agenda deadline or after that we vote on. I agree. It's not great. This is worse than that.

This is voting on hearsay like thoughts, ideas. We don't even know what we're voting on. I want to understand from you Mr. County Manager, what do you do with this now? What's the next step in the plan?

Well, let me answer it like this. If I was thinking about this as a planning exercise, first of all, I think that there'd need to be some recognition as to who's responsible for developing a plan that manages the jail population, and to me that has been over ten years. Ever asked the question about when the boats were deployed, that we have attempted to work with the justice partners on such a plan. It has never come to fruition. It's never been presented as system wide initiative.

So that would be first and foremost. I would like to think that the justice partners and by the way, ten years ago, these none of these were the same people. So it's not casting any aspersions on anyone that's here today, but that has been very much a failed exercise several times over. Two, I think, and somebody mentioned this a minute ago, maybe I think it was commissioner Arrington, we've got to start with a common truth based on data because a lot of what was said today is a lot of anecdotal. I'm not sure that it isn't true, but it's not all knitted together in one common data set that we would know then what we are, what's the potential, what investments could be made and what would be outcome.

So I think that needs to be pulled together and that's an effort as part of this. I do think that it requires some management support, management meaning from Steve Naraki, from finance, Alton Adams, I think you mentioned a minute ago being employed as fee based employee I think is a positive because I do think those are some skills that are outside the normal realm of perhaps, just like I'm not a lawyer, I am a manager And I think that applies in the reverse as well. So I think that part of the equation, meaning assigning management responsibilities to this effort. In the end, I do think it has to come back for approval because it's going to need either resource reallocation, endorsement if there are policy changes that have to be made. So I think that when that is all formed up, the VOC has a has a role.

And then lastly, some way there has to be some account of the accountability built in. Now that could be just simply that as you make investments and as you make decisions that the justice partners ultimately are accountable for these results. So some way building in an accountability and again that's a ten year journey of a justice reinvestment initiative that had that, you mentioned a minute ago, you know, a criminal justice policy committee or a criminal justice, I've forgotten what the name of that. Coordinating council. Coordinating council, thank you.

But some kind of mechanism that keeps folks accountable for proposals made, investments delivered against and projections because that gets lost in this process many times over. So to me, we can put on paper those four or five elements, but it starts with justice has to assume responsibility for creating and presenting a plan with support that has again common data, set of commitments, any investments required and then a level of accountability on the back end.

Okay so then you for that Mr. County Manager. I appreciate it. You know I think given that and given that the justice partners almost entirely not entirely have really not been consulted on this at this juncture that I would like to make a friendly amendment, Mr. Chairman, to the motion to have the motion be to ask the county management to work with the justice partners to develop a plan and buy in and accountability rather than to approve a plan.

So I would like to make a friendly amendment that we vote on asking the county manager with whomever whatever team member he likes, Mr. Neraki or whomever, to work with the justice partners to develop a plan to include these ideas.

Just a minute.

It's a

friendly amendment I'm asking.

Just a minute. Vice chair Abdul Rockman made the motion to approve.

Okay. Then I'm asking you madam vice chair. Apologies for not Well,

let me finish. Vice chair Abdul Rockman made the motion to approve. It was seconded by commissioner Thorne and That motion was made to approve these five points as presented.