State Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams was not the bearer of bad news in a meeting with the Haines Borough Tuesday, despite negative expectations.
“It was not the meeting that we had thought it was going to be,” Police Chief Heath Scott said.
Although he expected to hear of more budget cuts, Scott said Williams didn’t talk much about money in his meeting with Scott, Haines Borough manager Bill Seward and Mayor Jan Hill.
Seward said the group talked about ideas that would involve partnerships between the borough and the state Department of Corrections.
“He was coming in to see if we could take on some additional functions while sustaining our current level of funding,” Seward said. One of those additional functions would be to shift supervision of local people on parole from the state office in Juneau to the Haines Police department. Seward said there are currently six people on parole in Haines who would require supervision.
With the budget squeezing tighter, Seward said the DOC is looking for ways to get creative, streamline programs and combine resources.
Chief Scott said they also strategized ways to keep people out of the criminal justice system, especially low-level offenders.
Williams’ visit also included a tour of the jail facilities and an overview of what the police department does and how it functions.
Williams is on a tour to learn about the police and public safety infrastructure in rural Alaskan communities as he works to formulate next year’s DOC budget.
No official budget decisions were announced during his visit, but Scott said, “When we hear back from him we’ll know more.”