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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/10/1984Tuesday, July 10, 1984 The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County, Florida, met in Special Session at the County Commission Chambers, 1840 25th Street, Vero Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, July 10, 1984, at 9:00 o'clock A.M. Present were Don C. Scurlock, Jr., Chairman; Patrick B. Lyons, Vice Chairman; Richard N. Bird; Margaret C. Bowman; and William C. Wodtke, Jr. Also present were Michael J. Wright, County Administrator; L. S. "Tommy" Thomas, Community Services Director; Gary Brandenburg, Attorney to the Board of County Commissioners; and Virginia Hargreaves, Deputy Clerk. The Chairman called the meeting to order, and Commis- sioner Lyons led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. DISCUSSION REGARDING JAIL OPERATIONS Attorney Brandenburg introduced Attorney James Wilson, who is joining his office. He informed the Board that Mr. Wilson has had experience with the State Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's office, and he will be our resident expert on jail matters if the Commission should decide to take over the operation of the jail. Commissioner Bird informed the Board that he had asked Attorney Brandenburg to talk to the Alachua County Attorney because one of his main concerns is the additional exposure the County may be involved with if we should decide to take over the jail. Attorney Brandenburg reported that he did talk with Mr. Long, who has been the attorney for Alachua County ever since they took over the jail in 1976. Alachua County had a Special Act passed to give them the authority to take it over and entered into an interlocal agreement with the Sheriff for the specific responsibilities of each towards BOOK D 1 FADE 571 �JUL 10 1984 J JUL 10 1984 e��K 57 P,,, 572 the jail. From Attorney Long's standpoint, he liked it better when the Sheriff had the jail because there was that additional buffer of responsibility. Mr. Long did state, however, that there have been no major adverse lawsuits that have been successfully prosecuted even though the prisoners these days are very contentious and they usually have five or six lawsuits in progress by prisoners who are repre- senting themselves. As far as operations of the jail are concerned, Attorney Long informed him that a lot of time was spent in coordinating the operations between the Sheriff and the County Commission when the facility was taken over, and there were minor problems, all of which have been resolved over a period of time. Attorney Brandenburg stated that overall, he got the impression that the jail operation wasn't a great problem to the county; it was mainly just more work from the Attorney's standpoint. Discussion ensued regarding the fact that regardless of whether the Sheriff or the Commission manages the jail, the taxpayer foots the bill for the legal representation required. Sheriff Dobeck informed the Board that they haven't really had a substantial problem with suits, and those they have had, they have been able to handle successfully. The Sheriff's Department does have a legal firm on retainer, but they work substantially with other things.through the civil processes, i.e., seizures, confiscations, etc. Discussion continued regarding the fact that we have one funding source, and Chairman Scurlock believed it all gets down to the issue of -.increase in liability. With the Sheriff there, there is a little bit of buffer, but in actuality, the "buck stops here." As far as personal liability is concerned, the Chairman believed we are going to be in a position to handle that side, and noted the 2 M M seminar he attended had a great deal of information as to how to protect yourself with the new approach. Commissioner Bird stated that he would be agreeable to taking the risk of some increased liability if it would result in a more efficient operation, and he did believe it would. As to how a transition would take place, Commis- sioner Bird assumed that the jail personnel would transfer over to the county payroll and operate under the County Administrator, and their retirement and benefits would not be affected by the transfer. Apparently there would be some overlap in the clerical end until a separate facility is built and possibly there would be some overlapping of responsibility in the transporting of prisoners to court, to the doctor, etc. Administrator Wright stated that he has talked to the Sheriff about this at length, and he believed these are resolvable problems much the same as we had when we transferred the Building Department to the County. Commissioner Bird questioned whether the time period between now and October 1st is adequate for this transition and went on to discuss the relative merits of waiting to make the change until the facility is ready for occupancy. Administrator Wright stated that his thoughts are that we should be under construction three months into the fiscal year, and he felt it would be greatly preferable to have the .facility while it is being built so you can make the invariable changes that will have to be made while it is ongoing; this also will cut out one extra step. The Chairman agreed this would give us the advantage of working through the design phase with the architect, and Commissioner Lyons noted that moving is always a traumatic experience, and if we are able to get the paper department completely under control during the interim period, at least we don't have to cope with two things at once. 3 JUL 10 1984 sooK 7 PP- JUL 101984 BOOK 57 F'' )r. 5 Commissioner Wodtke questioned the need to include space for the Sheriff in the design of the new jail if we are going to be the ones controlling the jail, but Administrator Wright felt it would be better for the Sheriff to be there than in a rented space. He noted that the Sheriff's department is now scattered in three different buildings and we are paying for all of it. We already have a very overcrowded situation at the Courthouse. Commissioner Wodtke then discussed setting that up as an enterprise account where the Sheriff basically could pay rent for it. Chairman Scurlock believed the intent is to build the jail with the open space available upstairs with the thought that in future years when we expand the facility, we will need that space anyway, possibly for storage or other jail needs, and we then may have to move the Sheriff out into some other quarters. In discussion it was noted that the Sheriff presently has communications, records, the uniformed patrol division, and maintenance services at the jail, and Commissioner Bird felt even when the new jail is built, they still would be using some of that space in the old jail building. The Sheriff agreed they would for a while. Administrator Wright stated that what you have actually is a segregation of facilities, The jail people would control the jail, and the Sheriff would only use office space and would not have access to anything but his particular area. Chairman Scurlock inquired about any impact this transition would have on the Clerk's Office, and Adminis- trator Wright did not anticipate any. Commissioner Wodtke noted that there would be books, payroll and accounting, and Clerk Freda Wright agreed that the Sheriff's payroll and accounts would be an additional 4 M M M load. Finance Director Fry confirmed that they are not running that payroll now. The Administrator did not feel this would entail that much expense. Commissioner Wodtke noted that he has read in the news- papers that the proposed transition of the jail operation will release funds for the Sheriff to use somewhere else and release employees. What he envisions, however, is that we would take the last year's cost of the jail operations and transfer it over to the County, and there would be no bonanza for the Sheriff as far as additional employees or release of those funds to use in any other area. Some articles have indicated that the people from Corrections would be transferred over to Law Enforcement. The Administrator did believe it was recommended that one or two be transferred back to law enforcement, but he emphasized that the Sheriff does recognize that this is not a revenue generator - it is just a transfer of expense. Commissioner Wodtke continued that the paper has quoted the Sheriff as stating that it will cost more money to operate the jail, i.e., $40-50,000, and what he hears in the community is that they don't want to spend more money. Commissioner Lyons reported that his statement to the press explained that we are looking at two different things. The transferring of the jail operation out of the Sheriff's budget into ours has nothing to do with the Sheriff looking for more people for road patrol. If he is, that is an entirely different issue and one which will be settled when we look at his next fiscal budget. Commissioner Lyons further noted that it obviously will cost more each year to operate the jail because of the changing requirements of the Department of Corrections, but that has nothing to do with the transfer either as the Sheriff would have to meet the same requirements. 5 JUL 101984 BOOK 57 PACE575 JUL 101984 E;oc 7flH. 576 Chairman Scurlock concurred that the Sheriff is charged with the responsibility of submitting a budget to the County Commission and recommending whatever he feels is needed, and it is up to the Commission, as an entirely separate item, to review that budget and decide whether it is reasonable and whether or not to appeal it. Commissioner Bird stated that, as he understood it, the Sheriff has already worked up a Corrections budget for 1984-85 which does show some increase; primarily in starting salaries, and he would assume that if we approve the transfer, we would take the Sheriff's proposed Corrections budget and have our staff scrutinize it and make recommenda- tions. The Administrator agreed that basically staff would be bringing to the Commission the budget the Sheriff had proposed. He personally believed it is something that is needed, but that is something that will have to be argued at budget sessions. Commissioner Lyons pointed out that in ensuing years the Sheriff's budget and the jail budget would be completely separated. The Board continued to emphasize the fact that any additional road patrol, additional vehicles, etc., the Sheriff might wish during this next budget year would stand entirely on their own merit, and Sheriff Dobeck confirmed that this -would be an entirely separate issue. He went on to clarify that he never said there would be any bonanza to his department; what he did say was that the Sheriff's Department law enforcement end has not been a priority because of the DOC standards which required more personnel in the jail division, and therefore, if the transition were made, he might be able to justify more personnel for law enforcement. A M I Chairman Scurlock believed what we are basically saying to the Sheriff is that, because the media has printed some things which have been misunderstood, we want to make it very clear that no deal has been made for the transfer. The Sheriff stated that he expected his budget to be scrutinized the same as it always has been in the past. Commissioner Wodtke referred to an article in U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT - "Prisoners for Profit," which reports on corporations that are becoming involved in providing jail facilities. He believed there is such a non-profit foundation in Florida, the Eckerd Foundation, and he would like to contact them to see what interest they might have as he has not seen anything government can do more efficiently or cheaply than private industry. Administrator Wright reported that we are currently discussing this with a private for-profit company. He is familiar with what the Eckerd Foundation is doing, but believed it is at the Okeechobee Correctional Institute. The Administrator did not believe they work with jails. In further discussion, it was agreed the Administrator should check into this and if there is interest, refer it to the Finance Advisory Committee. Discussion continued re the advantages of the proposed transfer, and the Administrator described how we are interworking with the Sheriff now on use of trustees, etc. He was firmly of the opinion that it would make his job a lot easier to have a streamlined operation. He reminded the Commission that the Sheriff is the only law enforcement agency in the county that has a jail. Commissioner Bird noted that the Administrator had assured him that if.we took on the jail operation, he did not anticipate the need for any additional county personnel because of that burden, and Administrator Wright confirmed that the only people we may look for would be people that 7 J U L 10 1984 _ BOOK PAPE 577 JUL 101984 Boar 57 578 would work in the jail - no division heads or department heads, etc. Commissioner Bird felt the biggest impact would be on the County Attorney and the Administrator noted that is something that we are just shifting. Chairman Scurlock believed it is a great advantage to have your own staff attorney monitoring this operation, and pointed out that if we do take it over, we still have the option to go with a for-profit or not-for-profit corporation as the next step. Chairman Scurlock asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak. Tom Williams wished some clarification as to the shifting of funds. He wished to know if the Board is saying that when they take over, they will totally delete the jail portion from the Sheriff's budget, which would mean that he would have to come back with a completely revised budget. Administrator Wright explained that the Sheriff submits a budget in three phases, i.e., law enforcement, corrections and civil. Each is a separate book by itself, and the correctional phase would be completely deleted. Chairman Scurlock inquired if the Clerk had any further comments, and Finance Director Fry again emphasized that this will be an additional workload on the Clerk's Office as they will have all the additional bills to process for the jail; the payroll, however, doesn't really present any problem as it is automated right now; it will just increase the total number. Chairman Scurlock noted that could happen twice because the South County Fire District, which entails another three million dollars, may come over in the next year or so also. Clerk Freda Wright brought up the ever present problem of insufficient space in the Finance Department, and the Chairman agreed that is a valid concern. 8 M ON MOTION by Commissioner Lyons, SECONDED by Commissioner Bird, the Board unanimously authorized the transfer of the jail operations from the Sheriff to the County Commission to be effective 10/1/84. There being no further business, on Motion duly made, seconded and carried, the Board adjourned at 9:45 o'clock A. M. ATTEST: 11 CLERK ZACHAIRMAN 9 JUL 10 1984 BLICK DI F"'r5 �