Before county supervisors approved a lease agreement concerning modular trailers at Williams Drive, Lonnie Reyman asked that they not forget about probation.
The Del Norte County Probation Department had leveraged its good relationship with the buildings’ owners, the Del Norte County Office of Education, and used the space for training and to hold programs for its adult offenders, the probation chief said Tuesday. According to him, there is no other space available for adult programming.
“Over the last five or six years we’ve worked to try and increase that availability we provide to our adult offenders and to be able to provide those programs directly. That is one of the key places we do that,” Reyman said of the trailers at 250 and 254 Williams Drive in Crescent City. “As the county goes through this transition to use that property in a different manner, that will be something I’ll be watching closely. …”
Four Del Norte County supervisors approved amending a lease agreement the county has had with the County Office of Education since 2001. That agreement allowed the DNCOE to use county-owned property for the former McCarthy Alternative Education Center.
However, since the DNCOE no longer needs to use the site or the modular trailers, the county negotiated an agreement that allows for the use of the two structures for $1 per year through June 30, 2043. The county will be responsible for maintenance, repairs, utilities and operational costs, according to Hooper’s report, and will assume ownership when the lease expires.
Hooper’s report stated that while county administration has yet to determine how to use the two buildings, possibilities include housing economic development staff as well as the University of California Cooperative Extension.
On Tuesday, Reyman told supervisors that his department uses the buildings at least twice a week to conduct programs for the adults under their supervision.
“One of the populations we try and take some care with is our sex offender population,” he told District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard who asked how often Probation uses the buildings. “We have partnered with the (Family Resource Center of the Redwoods) to offer one of our parenting classes, but that’s not something we can refer that (sex offender) population to because we don’t want them in that space.”
Probation uses the two modular buildings on Williams Drive for its journaling and anger replacement therapy programs. He said those programs are held between two and four hours per week, though he’s looking for other spaces to use.
County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez told supervisors that this is the first he’s heard of Reyman’s concerns regarding the use of the modular buildings. According Lopez, the Board of Supervisors had directed county administration to contact the DNCOE to see if they were still using the modular buildings.
“Superintendent Harris told us they were no longer planning on using those (buildings) going forward,” Lopez said. “Now we’re changing the lease around where the county will be leasing those school district modulars for our programs. We’re open to suggestions for uses from the Board of Supervisors.”
The DNCOE made significant improvements to the two modular buildings in the last three to four years, according to Hooper’s staff report. Those improvements include replacing or refurbishing the buildings’ siding, roofing, fascia, exterior concrete work and accessibility ramps.
According to Hooper’s report, building and maintenance and information technology staff have determined that the two structures could be integrated into the county’s utility, communications and technology systems.
