COUNCIL ASSISTS DRUG COURT

City to Seek Federal Grant to Pay Staff Another Year

Columbus Council Tuesday morning authorized the city to pursue a federal
grant to help the cash-strapped Juvenile Drug Court operate for another year.

The court diverts non-violent juvenile offenders with drug problems from
Juvenile Court into the treatment-based program where their criminal
records can be cleared. Drug Court helps halt repetitive juvenile
delinquency by dealing with the personal problems and drug use that lead to
such behavior before it becomes habit. Without this additional funding, the
court would have to close its doors at the end of August.

The grant, from the Department of Justice, is worth $133,000. City Manager
Carmen Cavezza said the city will have to put up $33,000, of matching
funds, which would come from the city's contingency fund.

About $125,000 of the grant would be used to pay the court's five
employees, said Carol Scherer, director of Juvenile Drug Court. The court
employs a part-time director and two part-time secretaries without benefits
as well as two full-time case managers with insurance coverage. Currently
the funds for the salaries are being provided through a federal grant that
ends in August.

The extra money from the grant would help with the day-to-day operations.
The city already supplies the program's office space and office supplies,
Scherer said. Treatment for those in the program is funded through three
additional federal grants, Medicaid and community support.

"Right now we are operating on one grant after another," Scherer said.

The court will learn the first week in June if it will receive the grant.
The grant money would be for July 1 through June 30, 2005, but that money
is not guaranteed to be there after that.

"We are going to be in the same place next year," Scherer said.

She said she hopes local and state funds will become available when the
economy improves.

Mayor Bob Poydasheff said that he supported seeking the grant and called
the court an "important service."

But Poydasheff warned, "If the funds do not come in, in the future, the
city will not pick up the slack."

Through the end of 2003, the court successfully graduated 62 children.
Another 46 were active in the program, and 32 participants either had
dropped out of the program or were sent back to traditional Juvenile Court
for failing to comply with Drug Court requirements.

After two and a half years, Scherer said the program is running near
capacity with 68 children active today and a goal of 30 to 45 graduates
annually.