MONTE VISTA- The Monte Vista City Council held a work session last Wednesday, March 14 to discuss the decriminalization of municipal offenses, effectively removing jail time as a sentence for municipal offenses except in extreme cases for repeat offenders.

Council met with Municipal Judge Barbara Zollars, then City Attorney Karen Lintott, Police Chief John Rosecrans, City Clerk Unita Vance and City Manager Forrest Neuerburg concerning decriminalization stemming from the passage of Colorado HB16-1309, requiring municipalities to provide legal counsel to defendants at their first hearing and through the legal process if jail is on the table as a possible sentence.

The move would also help address other problems the City of Monte Vista had struggled with in 2017 and previously, the high cost of jailing inmates, the burden their transportation to and from Del Norte placed on police officers, and the ACLU’s accusation that former Judge Daniel Powell was running a “debtors court” when he was the judge in Monte Vista and Alamosa.

Zollars led the discussion, explaining “I’m going to advocate for  decriminalization of some of these ordinances,” explaining she had already been effectively practicing in municipal court, saving the city a significant amount of money, resolving cases and giving defendants more ownership in the process achieving largely more positive results.

Zollars said she had not been sending people to jail since taking over in 2017 “unless the PD put a bug in my ear or I think they really need it,” she said explaining it was a “kinder, gentler approach” that also avoided paying the Rio Grande County Sheriff’s Office (RGSO) $40,000 per year. From November of 2016 to October of 2017, Monte Vista paid RGSO $40,455 in fees for inmates being placed in the county jail.

From November of 2016 to March of 2017 alone it was $23,895. From November of 2017 when Zollars put the procedure in place to March of 2018 so far, the City has paid RGSO only $90.

Zollars explained the process also helped her close cases more effectively, with 467 cases closed from November of 2017 to March of 2018, compared to 260 cases from November 2016 to March of 2017. Similarly, payments to the court from November 2016 to March of 2017 totaled only $36,005.25 whereas since November of 2017 to the end of this February payments total $46,304.91.

Zollars noted that there were 55 cases from previous years, as far back as 2013, adding municipalities shouldn’t have jurisdiction over cases for more than a year, and most of the time defendants were just returning to court once a month to tell the judge they weren’t able to make payments. “That was punitive and a waste of time” for the court, the defendants and in some cases the PD, she said.

The simple way to implement the decriminalization was for the City Attorney to write a policy stating the city will not be seeking jail time as a punishment unless the City Attorney deems it necessary. The policy would allow for jail time to be sought in extreme cases if the attorney, after speaking with the PD, deemed the person a repeat offender who wasn’t hindered by fines, community service or other consequences and the judge would still have the final say. Zollars said in those cases the defendants would have to be advised of their right to a public defender at their first hearing and the city would be responsible for the cost of either reimbursing a trial attorney or retaining a public defender on contract.

The alternative would be to write an ordinance removing jail time except in certain cases. Rosecrans and Zollars both explained if someone’s offense was serious enough for a 90-day sentence, the defendant should be facing county charges anyway, not municipal ones. Both spoke highly of the county court system and Rosecrans explained most repeat local offenders had more prominent county charges anyway, or if they were a serial offender they could seek county-level charges.

Rosecrans noted the county also has more sentencing options appropriate for those kinds of offenders, like supervised probation.

Alternative sentences and possible restorative justice programs were also discussed at the work session.

Rosecrans said he is looking into a possible shoplifters group with local merchants. The hope is that by bringing serial shoplifters together with business owners in a restorative justice setting might help the offenders see the merchants as people who live in, work in and are dedicated to their communities and are drastically affected by their bottom line, not as faceless, large corporate entities.

Rosecrans added seeking alternative sentences and more restorative justice programs “is good for the PD and it’s good for the city.” Both Rosecrans and Zollars agreed having fewer warrants was also good for the overall perception of the court and discussed the Traffic Circle program in Alamosa as a possibility down the line, when they’re better able to expand.

“In the long run for the kind of offenses we’re talking about, jail isn’t going to do them any good…jail is for violent offenders,” Zollars explained in favor of alternative sentencing. “There’s no benefit to the city…If certain offenses are still worth it to some of you for some crimes, then know you’d have to pay for lawyers.”

Councilor Kathy Ellithorpe asked what kind of offenses would be decriminalized. Zollars answered “I’m not into reinventing the wheel,” and explained 20 ordinances had just been dropped as jail-worthy offenses in Alamosa and the most efficient way was to use the city attorney policy. Lintott added the previous council had begun work on a similar ordinance in 2017 and she had a draft of that ordinance she could forward to council if they preferred an ordinance over a policy.

Zollars added restitution and community service had been effective in court. She required the defendants to go find a place to do community service and have those locations complete a form with their hours and contact information for the court to confirm. It gives the defendants more choices and she has seen community service be completed very quickly.

She noted she is open to other ideas on how to complete community service. Councilor Joe Schlabach stated the city had previously looked into the possibly of completing community service under the Public Works department, which Zollars noted she was aware of but liability concerns hindered that. Neuerburg added he has been looking into CIRSA’s requirements for waivers and Alamosa is currently in the process of implementing a similar system. Neuerburg has been working closely with Alamosa City Manager Heather Brooks to see what works there and to look into funding options for the Traffic Circle program. Ellithorpe also suggested the Cemetery Board could look into a waiver for community service there.

Councilor Gary Johnson questioned the term decriminalization, noting it sounded rather broad although what he had heard made economic sense. Rosecrans spoke to those concerns noting “Our average tools are the same. When we want someone in jail we have county charges.” He added officers biggest burden is court appearances and testimony.

“When the same person gets the same thing [charges] repeatedly we can add jail, a higher fine or special sanction options and let the judge know,” he said. “I think we’re behind it. Why not decriminalize, it doesn’t affect how cops do their jobs.”

Zollars added it wasn’t making certain crimes legal again, just makes certain offenses not punishable by jail time. Ellithorpe noted she liked the almost case-by-case flexibility.

Vance and Neuerburg pointed out the financial savings to the MVPD and Vance also noted a public defender usually costs about $75 per hour when jail is a possible sentence.

Vance has also started working with the DMV system for traffic offenses, causing the offender to potentially lose their license for non-payment of fines, which has been an effective tool, “There’s a huge effort on their part to get fines paid.”

Rosecrans added he would be exploring using that for shoplifting as well. Vance added restitution was also effective with four payments issued back to the victims already.

Most of council and present staff discussed their dismay that municipalities did not have more access to restorative justice and rehabilitation programs, with addiction being an underlying cause of many of the municipal charges. All agreed to look into more resources as they become available and looked forward to the policy options being discussed and voted on in a later council meeting.

Lintott presented her resignation the following day, so it is unclear when the ordinance or policy resolution will come before council, but council appeared motivated to formally implement the procedures discussed.