Senator Becker started our conversation stating that she had heard a year ago or so, in a another meeting that, "the Nisqually Indian Tribe was planning to build another jail and were going to expand onto their jail that they already had." She stated that she was not involved in their voting or decision making and she had no idea of the size of their intentions.
This meeting, with Senator Becker consisted of answering her questions that she had regarding the Nisqually Regional Jail. Senator Becker asked questions regarding the land acquisition, the parcel specifically, whether it consisted of 179 acres or the full 640 acres listed on the county tax identification number, concerns regarding the water levels and quality, noise and light pollution, traffic revisions, liabilities, responsibilities, balance resale versus commercial value, weather the Nisqually's have a B & O tax, other regular fees questioned and if they would pay. She had scheduled a meeting with our Washington State Attorney General, Rob Mckenna's office for the next Day, Thursday, July 7th.
Senator Swecker, JT Wilcox, the Attorney General and she were all to be at this meeting. (See below for brief description of these meeting results). Senator Becker appreciated my time to inform her regarding her questions. She left the meeting stating she was looking into the situation further and that she would get back to our committee. Senator Becker also suggested that we talk with Mayor Harding of Yelm.
On July 11th, 2011, Holly from Senator Becker's office called and stated that the meeting with Attorney General McKenna went "good". Attorney General McKenna asked the Senator's for an official letter stating their concerns and questions so he could officially address them. The Attorney General stated that he would run it by a few offices to see if they wanted to sign in on it. The Attorney General suggested that the community write letters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to share their concerns.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Meeting notes with Thurston County Sheriff Snaza
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Meeting notes with Thurston County Sheriff Snaza
We started our conversation with some background of the Thurston County jail and past procedures. In 1999, Sherriff Edwards had to turn away prisoners from the County Jail. The jail was running at maximum capacity and was experiencing overcrowding and safety issues. Thurston County Sheriffs Office currently houses Misdemeanors and Felonies. The new jail on the West Side of Olympia, the Account Restitution Center (A.R.C.) was designed so our current County Jail would run simultaneously with the A.R.C. The older jail facility would be their intake and court and transitional population. The A.R.C. would then house the inmates who were Convicted Felons or Misdemeanors and who were going to be housed a year or more.
In 2003 or 2005 (He couldn't remember the year off the top of his head) the A.R.C. was voted down by Thurston County voters. Our County Commissioners decided to pass it through anyway making it possible for the A.R.C. to be built.
With our currently economy and decline in jail population He states that Thurston County now cannot afford to run both jails. The A.R.C. was designed to be built in 3 stages, the second stage was designed to have two more pods ($14 Million more dollars and 40,000 more square feet. With the second phase the County would need an additional 40 deputies; “we do not have revenue to run this.”
On July 16, 2011, Sherriff Snaza mentioned he was going to have a meeting with the consultant to decide how to transition and utilize the new A.R.C. jail. (We have not heard back the results from this meeting) Sheriff Snaza's focus is that, “our jurisdictions NEED now to work together.” TCSO’s budget helps to pay to incarcerate Felons. “Nisqually is using the economy and their ability to obtain Federal Grants to build their own Regional Jail. They are also using their position to offer less expensive housing to increase their marketability.”
Sheriff Snaza believes “(immediate neighbors) should be concerned with property taxes”. Since there will be more homes being built in the near future, property taxes go up however, the potential selling of homes will go down now that it will be near a jail. If local agencies pay Nisqually to house their inmates – that money will go to the Tribe and not our economy.
Sheriff Snaza wonders what Standard Operating Procedures that the Nisqually’s will operate with? Hiring, training procedures, and more? TCSO Correction officers follow National Standards will the Tribe also follow National standards? Currently the Nisqually Tribe officers are Bureau of Indian Affairs certified and then they receive Criminal Justice Training Commissions (WSCJTC) equivalency. Again, Sheriff Snaza questioned “what exactly are the Tribe’s standards?”
Sheriff Snaza stated that if an inmate was to escape from a Sovereign jail, the situation and apprehension of the inmate it immediately would become TCOS ‘s responsibility. An escape violation or attempted escape is a Felony offense.
S
herriff Snaza also wonders if we were given any notice of the Tribe’s plans? Will the Tribe pay Assessor’s tax on the parcel, will Thurston County be collecting taxes and will the Regional Jail benefit Thurston County? Sherriff Snaza suggested looking more closely at Fort Lewis.
herriff Snaza also wonders if we were given any notice of the Tribe’s plans? Will the Tribe pay Assessor’s tax on the parcel, will Thurston County be collecting taxes and will the Regional Jail benefit Thurston County? Sherriff Snaza suggested looking more closely at Fort Lewis.
“Will the Regional jail house only Misdemeanors or house Felons and plus one year or more?” “What study did the Nisqually’s use to show increase of their jail population?” “If the Nisqually’s can justify filling 576 why can’t he? What type of prisoners are they truly going to be housing and what are they going to do with their Felons?
Sheriff Snaza concluded our discussion stating,
“I want to make A.R.C. work for our County and all of our agencies to benefits citizens of Thurston County and to provide the best services possible.”
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Results from Farmer's Market
We hosted an information table at the Farmer's Market in Olympia on Saturday and collected eight and a half pages of signatures. Most of the people we talked with were completely unaware of the Nisqually Jail situation. The argument against the Nisqually Jail is compelling. We have three other dates available that we can be at the Farmer's Market. We will notify you of these dates once they become scheduled. If anyone wants to come and help at these events please contact us at jstopjail@yahoo.com. Any help informing the community or collecting petition signatures would be GREAT.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Meeting Scheduled with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
We have been asked to a meeting with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell's Tacoma Office. This meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 11th. We will notify you of the outcome of this meeting.
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