Board of Supervisors talks over grant denial for program
by Nathan Rushton, 5/11/2005
A county grant application to the U.S. Department of Justice that provides funding for the District Attorney’s Victims Witness Program has been rejected, which threatens to eliminate the program’s four employees in July.
During its meeting Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to postpone for one week any action on an agenda item that requests the elimination of the program coordinator and three victim witness program specialist positions effective July 30 as a result of the funding shortfall.
County staff has recommended that the positions be “disallocated” and that the layoff process begin.
Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist asked that the item be continued because the county was waiting to hear back from the Department of Justice about a grant application that was resubmitted to the agency in January.
“We are talking about taking a program — which in the moment is intact — and not having any indication of which direction this is going to go, and eliminating the program,” Geist said.
She said during her recent discussions with Department of Justice officials about the resubmitted grant application, she was told there was no way to discern the status of the application until after the review process was completed in July or August, but if it were approved, the money would come shortly after.
Geist said the Victim Witness Program handles approximately 500 cases a year. It provides assistance to crime victims in explaining court processes, going to court with them and keeping them informed of court dates.
“That is significant in terms of its impact,” Geist said.
She said there also might be state mandates that the county is required to meet with regard to victim witnesses.
Fourth District Supervisor Bonnie Neely said the program is necessary.
“We have a quality of life we want to protect in Humboldt County, which means we have a quality justice system,” Neely said. “That system should include services for victims and witnesses of crimes.”
She thought the issue was a grant-funding issue that should be brought up with Rep. Mike Thompson.
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, who was present to speak to the supervisors, said information regarding the agenda item hadn’t been gathered for the board meeting because the DA’s office was at a disadvantage dealing with the matter, which he said was routine, but had become controversial.
He told the board that DA’s office would be able to provide more answers to the specific questions the following week, when District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who is out of town this week, is expected to speak to the board on the matter.
Keat said his understanding of the application process was that the grant application rejection letter was “in the nature of a critique, not in the nature of something that could be fixed.”
Included in the grant application rejection letter were several strengths of the application, as well as numerous weaknesses, including the omission of signatures of several agencies covered under the program.
Keat said the principal author of the application was Bill Rodstrom, the coordinator for the Victim Witness Program. Keat said he believes Rodstrom did his best to provide the best grant application possible.
Keat said he wasn’t aware of a second grant application that had been submitted to the Department of Justice in January, or of any major changes in the criteria of the grant application that might have caused it to be rejected.
He said he didn’t want to see the program cut.
“We agree they’re important,” Keat said. “And we agree we don’t want to see them go.”
According to the grant letter, the applications were reviewed by a peer panel of victim advocacy, law enforcement, prosecution and court experts.
According to a letter from the federal agency, there were 147 grant proposals totaling more than $90 million requested. Because only about $41 million was available, the agency wasn’t able to support all the applications.
(Nathan Rushton can be reached at nathan@eurekareporter.com.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related:
ER - Interview Process Cuts Down On Trauma Of Children 5/6/04
Losing the Victim Witness Grant
ER - Board of Supervisors talks over grant denial for program 5/11/2005
NCJ - VICTIM PROGRAM THREATENED: 5/12/05
ER - Gallegos says program is safe 5/15/2005
ER - Victim witness program funds sought by county 5/18/2005
TS - Proposed cuts to victims program delayed May 18, 2005
TS - My Word - DA leadership: The 8-step program May 24, 2005
County to fund Victim Witness Program The Eureka Reporter 6/8/2005
Supes mull grant application 5/14/07
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