Subject:
Title
Renewal of the Interlocal Agreement for Administration of the Pinellas County Substance Abuse Treatment Funding with the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approval by the County Administrator of the Renewal of the Interlocal Agreement with the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court for administration of the Pinellas County Substance Abuse Treatment Funding.
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Strategic Plan:
Ensure Public Health, Safety, and Welfare
2.1 Provide planning, coordination, prevention, and protective services to ensure a safe and secure community.
2.2 Be a facilitator, convener and purchaser of services for those in need
Summary:
Renewal of the Interlocal agreement with the Sixth Judicial Circuit continues the administration of the Board of County Commissioners’ substance abuse treatment funding. The agreement provides a structural understanding of rights and responsibilities to facilitate substance abuse treatment for defendants in the Sixth Judicial Circuit’s Adult Drug Court, Juvenile and Dependency Court and Juvenile Diversion Programs.
Background/Explanation:
Pinellas County Drug Court operates in accordance with Chapter 65D-30, Florida Administrative Code, known as the Substance Abuse Standards. Adult Drug Court is an eighteen (18) to twenty-four (24) month, court supervised, comprehensive treatment program for non-violent felony offenders. The program is voluntary and requires regular court appearances before a drug court judge. Treatment includes a residential program, outpatient services with group counseling and assessments.
Drug Court exists to provide participants the opportunity to avoid a jail sentence and to become productive, drug-free members of the community. For Fiscal Year 2016, the ADC treated approximately 1,165 participants with 472 new admissions during the year. The ADC graduated 296, or 60.3 percent of all exits, and graduates spent an average of 625 days in drug court. In addition, recent program statistics show a four-year retention rate of 73 percent through 2015.
In addition to efforts to divert from jail into treatment, the current opioid crisis has made this program even more critical. In Pinellas County there have been over 400 opioid related deaths since 2015, with an average rate of 17 deaths per month. From January 2017 through April 2017 alone, the numbers already show approximately 75 opioid deaths within Pinellas County.
Fiscal Impact:
This agreement has no fiscal impact. The $675,000.00 substance abuse allocation is in included in the Fiscal Year 2018 Tentative Budget within the Human Services, Justice Coordination General Fund budget and funds services with licensed treatment providers through a purchasing bid for Adult Drug Court Division N and Juvenile Drug Court.
Delegated Authority:
Authority for the County Administrator to sign this agreement is granted under Code Section 2-62 (a)(1) and 2-62 (a)(4).
Staff Member Responsible:
Lourdes Benedict, Director, Human Services
Partners:
Sixth Judicial Circuit Court
State Attorney
Public Defender
Curaparr Corporation d/b/a Center for Rational Living
Wayne A. Grosnick & Associates, PA d/b/a Solutions Behavioral Healthcare Consultants
Westcare Florida-Gulfcoast, Inc.
Attachments:
Interlocal Agreement with the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court