County Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, how you doing? Yeah, I think that's all. That's what

that would be better. I don't know. Somebody else. Thanks for sending me straight on that stuff. Oh, sure. I don't know how I missed Jessica's um email. I guess because it was Friday afternoon. It was Friday morning. I guess it was like 10 o'clock Friday morning.

So, I guess it'll be on Mondays or on Tuesdays. God damn it. Go away.

Let's go ahead and get started. Um, let's go ahead and stand and say the pledge allegiance of the flag and and a small prayer. Amen. Lord, let us pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this is the day that you have made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. We ask for your blessings upon this council. God, continue to lead, guide, and direct us in all of our decisions. Bless everyone that is here today and those that are watching. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, we've got an agenda before us. Um, the the uh council's had a a chance to take a look at the agenda. Is there any additions, deletions, or correction to the agenda, council? No.

Okay. Um hearing none, the chair moves that the agenda be accepted as unanimous consent. Okay. Now, what we're going to do is we're going to have a uh a discussion on Maryland um House Bill 791 um on uh safety and correctional um enforcement. Um and I would like to ask um the sheriff to come on up in front of us, please. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for taking time to read. Yes, sir. read reading my letter to you. Yes, sir. The um the purpose of my letter to you was

um since I don't have any responsibility to the detention center, which falls under, as you well know, under your uh purview and jurisdiction, I wanted to make you aware of this bill that recently passed um both the House and the Senate in Maryland. It's sitting on the governor's desk. As far as I know today, it has not been signed. Um, but I did not check this morning to see if it had been signed. I'm with you.

Um, and I know that, you know, under Maryland rules, if the governor elects to veto the bill, um, it would go to the next legis probably go to the next legislative session. They would need a three-fifth majority um to override the governor's veto. Um my main concern with this bill is I think that it's going to cause um more chaos in the streets of East, not just East County, but you know, up and down all throughout Maryland. I'm a member of the Maryland Sheriff's Association, as you probably know. We go to monthly meetings. We meet with the director directors of homeland security who are already ramping up efforts in Maryland because if they can't pick these people up at our detention centers, they'll have to be picking them up on the street. Um and that's going to cause um I think more stress in the immigrant community, more concern because they've already said and they said this when um when they started actually enforcing the law. Um they said if we have to go to a house look to look for this particular person and there's five other people in that house and their status is not legal then everybody's going. Um so there's going to be I think that this instead of picking them up in a safe location having our detention center in the current um the current capac the current understanding there is our detention center gives them notice if the detainers file they come and they pick them up inside the sallyport safer for the community safer for the HSI agents safer for the immigrant um versus letting them walk out on the street on do road and then having to chase or look for people um in our communities. So, I wanted to bring it to your attention since the extension center does and mainly it impacts that it will limit some other contact that my

detectives or my detect my police off or my sheriff's deputies could have with ICE. It doesn't limit it severely. Um but there is also some it opens up some uh civil more civil liability should somebody um not follow the exact um letter of the law that we would not or ordinarily be exposed to. Okay. As well as the corrections. Um so with that I I was asking you to review review the letter and consider um asking the governor to veto the bill. Mr. Stant.

So on behalf of the director of corrections who's out of town at this point, but I've had conversations with them, had conversations with the sheriff, had looked into the matter. Um passage of this bill would affect how we currently operate in Tulma County. There is a unofficial um relationship, I guess you would have, a protocol would be better said, between our corrections department and federal authorities in that the federal authorities actually monitor a computer software program and they know who uh where where certain people they're looking for are incar incarcerated and when it pops up in Talbet County, they make a call to Talbet County and let them know that they have a retainer um in play for a certain individual and that they would like to um retain that person once they're discharged from uh the corrections facility. The correction facility only operates under the orders of a judge. And so that's how we incarcerate individuals and it's very specific as to how long we kept we keep them and then they're and when they're discharged. 24 hours before their discharge, a phone call is made to the federal authorities letting them know of the discharge time and date at which time uh the federal authorities are there to meet the individual. We don't hold anybody beyond what we're required or directed to hold them under the judicial direction and that's important to note. Uh this the passage of this bill will not allow us to do that any longer. Um and um and further if we did do something like that, our personnel uh sworn personnel could be held personally civily liable.

Um so it would impact our operation. Um I would note that council on February 24th uh through your process of reviewing bills did oppose this bill in the general assembly. So the ask this evening is that you basically reaffirm your opposition to the bill by sending a letter to the governor and asking him to consider vetoing it. So this would be just simply reaffirming your opposition to the bill that you expressed on the 24th of February. And I would add one thing in the bill. It limits you as the county council and every county in Maryland on what the detention centers can do,

but it still allows the state to do the same thing that we currently do. Um, and I think it's in response to a number of counties where sheriffs um had 287g programs. So I think this is cross between and they the governor already signed a bill eliminating a 287g program which would basically you could have deputies in your detention center trained in the computer system. So everyone that's arrested that comes in whether it's DWI or driving while suspended or whatever gets checked in the system. It's a It's basically Homeland Security system and then and then that correctional officer could file a detainer on behalf of HSI

on that on that person. That's been eliminated. Right. The governor's already signed that as emergency legislation. It went into effect. So us as the sheriffs across the state have no idea why they're doing this just to local detention centers. like why aren't they doing it through the state prison system right if they believe in this and I I I don't know I don't know why but I think it's it's interesting that he doesn't want to the legislature doesn't want to take that authority away from local the state but they want to take it away from you um the locally elected people who actually run the local detent detention centers um so anyway I

mean it's politics at its Right. Yeah. All right. Well, um, so, so open for discussion, council. I mean, my my thoughts were Did you want to say something? No, I'm sorry. Uh, Mr. Stamp just asked anything to add and I just said, "No, I think everything I had to say had already been covered." So, you wouldn't stay out of it, right? I just I I know you all have another meeting soon. So, no, I I I I do I do want to say just just just for clarity sake there,

this this uh this law does um have allowances for notification under certain conditions. Judicial warrant, active judicial warrant um and certain felony um convictions um are exceptions to it. But but in general um you know again want to be really clear that our detention center holds people based on a judicial warrant expressly directed by a judge to incarcerate an individual. We do not hold anybody one second longer than we're required to do so. Um at this point in time we only make a phone call to let them know that a person is going to be discharged at a certain am certain period of time or a certain time uh where they can engage that subject and this would disallow that.

Okay. Well, I appreciate you clearing that up and being specific about that because I I'm thinking that um that with what the sheriff wants and what he's asking, I'm fine with it. I think we're going to be I'm I'm behind you 100%. Um and the letter that was on February 24th that we supported and sent off unfavorable. We didn't we we don't like that bill. So now the bill's been passed. So whatever we can do and it's open for discussion. Um I'm I'm fine with with giving you what you're what you need to help um this this not to pass if if you know and I don't know what it's going to take. Obviously we got to do something sort of immediately because he's it's within 24 hours he's going to do something. So, do you think do you think that when we do something tonight, if if council ends up doing something tonight, is that something that we can do right away?

I mean, help me with that. I mean, I would think a simple letter saying, "We do not support this bill. This is our detention center. We're elected to run our detention center." I mean, if you weren't if I was the one running the detention center, if it was the sheriff was in charge, like in some counties, I wouldn't be making this ask. Uhhuh. Because since I don't have the authority of the detention center, I think we run the detention center. We are locally elected to run our detention center as one of our duties. Um we are not in favor of this bill. We ask you to veto it. Right. So how what's the best way? As simple as that. Yeah. We'd draft a letter. We'd have we'd draft a letter and have it out first thing in the morning. So we know if he signed the bill yet. No. He hasn't signed it. I looked at I looked into it as did the

He said he didn't look at it this morning to see if it's been signed. Following it and I looked up it's not signed yet. Okay. We could send a letter out this evening. And I think it ought to go via email or something else cuz you just when we say send it, we we will email it and then just because when I write my letters, I have, you know, via email and regular mail, but it's just me. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Hey, no problem. It's a lawyer. No problem. So, um, do we want to put, um, do we put a motion that we go ahead and and and and make sure we we put a second letter in that we're opposing this? Yeah. I I I just want to mention that um

I I read in the media that at the last minute the legislature pushed this through and that it was tanamount to making Maryland a sanctuary state which is not our intention and the position that the sheriff took immediately with that hitting the news I thought that we should support and that's why I brought this to the attention and I think it should go out. Should have gone out days ago, but it should go out immediately. Okay. We should support the sheriff and and the concept behind it. I do too. It's it's safety to our community. Mhm. Great. Agreed. So, is there a motion?

So moved. There's a second. Second. Okay, we got a motion. Second, Madam Secretary, call the vote. Mr. Callahan, I. Miss Milky, I. Miss Hay, I. Okay, there you go, Sheriff. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Thank you, Council Milky, for Yes. conversations we had to bring this in. Yep. Yep. Appreciate it. Hopefully we called it in time. Okay. Um, do we need to do anything else to close or motion to close? Just the council will be meeting next Tuesday on April 28th, close session, talk about personnel and uh,

uh, you have a public meeting uh, thereafter 5:00. Okay. And just I just want to add too for the public because I think this bill was a little bit confusing when we were going through it, but just so that the public knows that you know based on our legal opinion and what Clay was able to research that you know this will jeopardize the safety not only of the im immigrants in our community but the safety overall to our community as well. And so that's why the council voted to send this letter um to the governor asking him to veto um Senate bill what is it 7919 791 791. So I just wanted the public to know that understand it. Okay, that's all I have. Thank you. Okay, appreciate it.

Motion to adjurnn. So moved. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I miss Milky. I miss Hate. I Okay, thank you. Thank you. All right.