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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAddendum 1 - RFP - 9975 Municipal Court Defense CounselAddendum #1 Questions and Answers RFP 9975 Municipal Court Defense Counsel Page 1 of 4 ADDENDUM NO. 1 SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS Description of RFP 9975: Municipal Court Defense Counsel OPENING DATE: 3:00 PM (Our Clock) May 7, 2024 To all prospective bidders under the specifications and contract documents described above, the following changes/additions are hereby made and detailed in the following sections of this addendum: Exhibit 1 – Questions and Answers Please contact Ed Bonnette, C.P.M., CPPB, Senior Buyer, at (970) 416-2247 or ebonnette@fcgov.com with any questions regarding this addendum. RECEIPT OF THIS ADDENDUM MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY A WRITTEN STATEMENT ENCLOSED WITH THE PROPOSAL STATING THAT THIS ADDENDUM HAS BEEN RECEIVED. Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6775 970.221.6707 fcgov.com/purchasing Addendum #1 Questions and Answers RFP 9975 Municipal Court Defense Counsel Page 2 of 4 1) Can you provide some more information such as expected time commitment, pricing, and volume of cases? Answer: Pricing and volume of cases is noted in the RFP. Time commitment will depend on the number of attorneys under contract. Best case scenario will include a commit to appear and be assigned new cases every 4 to 6 weeks. This frequency could change depending on the number of proposals received. 2) What is the name of the Attorney(s) and associated law firm(s) that currently provide or has provided “court-appointed defense counsel representation” under contract to the City of Fort Collins? Answer: Cody Knebel (Ron Salas occasionally fills in for Mr. Knebel) with the Salas Law Firm, Joe Petrone and Nick Cummings with Cummings and Petrone are the Courts current providers and have been for the last few years. 3) What was the Municipal Court Defense Counsel program budget for 2023? Answer: $87,000.00 4) How much money was spent in 2023 for court-appointed defense counsel program? Answer: $73,937.00 5) What is the Municipal Court Defense Counsel program budget for 2024? Answer: $87,000.00 Although the Court does have a budgeted amount for counsel, the Court is committed to providing court-appointed counsel to all qualifying defendants who request it and will not decline to appoint an attorney based on budgetary issues. The Court considers this a critical constitutional right and will expend all resources necessary to ensure it is protected. 6) Will the court-appointed defense counsel be required to pay a fee to the court upon written “Entry of Appearance”? Answer: No. 7) Will translation services be provided by the court at no cost to the court-appointed defense Addendum #1 Questions and Answers RFP 9975 Municipal Court Defense Counsel Page 3 of 4 counsel under this program? Answer: Yes. The Court appoints interpreters on all cases requiring it and provides funding for meetings with Counsel as well as court appearances. The Court also provides funding for investigators when appropriate and requested by counsel. 8) Data Point related – of the approx. 400 cases that were assigned court-appointed defense counsel, what types of cases were they (IE; Prostitution, Protection Order Violation, Public Indecency, Public Peace and Order, Theft, Trespass, Under-Age Alcohol, etc.) and the approx. percentage of total? Answer: The Court’s case management system is over 23 years old and has limited reporting available. We don’t have reporting available to give you this specific information. In 2023, the Court handled 1813 misdemeanor and petty offense cases. The top 6 misdemeanor/petty offense type violations filed into Municipal Court last year were Trespass 496, Theft 268, open container 91, Disorderly Conduct (offensive utterance) 89, Disorderly Conduct (fight in public) 88, Harassment 82. 9) Data Point related – of the approx. 400 cases that were assigned court-appointed defense counsel, has the FCMC captured demographic information on the parties served (IE; Gender, disability, age, veteran status, ethnicity, race etc.)? and if yes – please provide in response? Answer: The Court does collect some of this information but does not have the means to provide it due to technological limitations. There are no reports available in the Court’s current case management system that can extract this information. The Court anticipates having reporting available when a new case management system is implemented early next year. 10) Will the court-appointed defense counsel be required to capture and report demographic information to the FCMC? Answer: No. 11) How many substantial violation cases (meaning traffic or non-traffic misdemeanor) originated from the Colorado State University Police Department in 2023? Answer: The Court’s current case management system does not have reporting available to extract this information. Anecdotally speaking, the majority of the Court’s caseload is filed by Fort Collins Police Services. CSUPD filings are estimated to be less than 10% of the Court’s general caseload. Addendum #1 Questions and Answers RFP 9975 Municipal Court Defense Counsel Page 4 of 4 12) How many cases that were assigned court-appointed defense counsel originated from the Colorado State University Police Department in 2023? Answer: See answer to question 11. We would estimate if any cases involving CSUPD’s cases were assigned court-appointed defense counsel, it would be a very small single digit percentage of the approx. 400 cases assigned to court-appointed defense counsel. 13) RFP - Page 4, Section 1B states that 1,585 “video advisements” were held in 2023. Is the definition of “video advisements” the same definition as “Prisoner video arraignment hearing”? Answer: Yes 14) What is the current methodology used for a defendant to be informed “proactively” that they may be eligible for court-appointed defense counsel? Answer: At in-person arraignments, the defendant is given a written advisement that contains the right to counsel and given 4 options, one of which is a continuance with the information on applying for court-appointed counsel included. At virtual arraignments, the judge advises each defendant with an eligible charge of their right to an attorney, including one provided by the court at no cost to them, if they are indigent. In-custody individuals are informed they have a right to an attorney at no cost to them while in custody and if they bond, they will qualify for continued representation free of charge if they are indigent. The Court also asks each person sitting for trial whether they wish to represent themselves, apply for court-appointed counsel, or hire an attorney prior to accepting a not guilty plea and setting trial dates. The Court also provides an Arguello advisement at pretrial readiness to make sure the defendant has not changed his or her mind. 15) How would the FCMC define by brief summation one or two areas of improvement desired to the program from previous years? Answer: The Court proactively looks for ways to continuously improve our processes and procedures. The Court Administrator requests feedback throughout the year from contracted attorneys on the Court’s processes, hearing schedule, and alternative sentencing programing. The Court is implementing a new Municipal Drug Court in late 2024 and will request feedback and support from contracted defense counsel. The new case management system, implemented early next year, will have a defense counsel portal which improve the filing of documents and the discovery process. 16) How many substantial violation cases (meaning above & beyond traffic or non-traffic misdemeanor) originated from the Colorado State University Police Department in 2023? Answer None. This Court does not handle violations above & beyond traffic or non-traffic misdemeanor type citations.