911, prisoner housing troubles nearing end?
, Richmond News Staff
08-13-2009
A step toward the resolution of two long-time public safety issues included brief tense moments between Richmond Mayor Lance Green and city council member Bob Bond.
Bond and Green first clashed over the manner in which Green was presented with a contract from the Ray County Commissioners. The contract had been scrutinized by the public safety committee less than an hour prior to the council meeting, to move from housing city prisoners at the Lafayette County Jail in Lexington without contract to housing them at the Ray County Jail in Henrietta.
As Bond explained, prisoners had been moved to the Lafayette County Jail to avoid mounting medical bills for prisoners that accumulated when the Ray County facility had been privately owned. Police Chief Terri McWilliams made scrutiny of medical care received by prisoners a condition of signing off on the contract when it was presented to the committee in late July. At the time, McWilliams cited previous medical bills nearing $6,000 received by the Richmond Police Department during the period when the jail was privately owned until 2005.
Bond informed the council the city had paid $1,300 in prisoner medical bills in 2002; $834 in 2003; $4,000 in 2005; and just over $280 in 2006.
Bond informed the council the contract originally called for prior authorization from the Richmond Police Department before Ray County personnel could allow emergency care to be administered. He added a clause shortly before the council convened that would include prior authorization for non-emergency care, making it the sole responsibility of the Richmond Police Department to provide authorization of care.
Bond also indicated the contract would alleviate the $62 cost, including man hours and mileage, associated with delivering prisoners to Lafayette County and ease concerns about the safety of officers traveling between counties in patrol vehicles with prisoners in the back seat.
The contract, Bond explained, would ensure that prisoners would have the care required by law available to them but that the city would have to be made aware of the care before it is administered. Additionally, the Ray County cost of $30 per female prisoner and $25 per male per day presented a savings of $5 per day per prisoner over the present arrangement with Lafayette County.
In 2008, the city of Richmond spent over $18,000 in fees to house prisoners in Lafayette County.
He then made a motion to sign the contract, with the additional clause.
Green had to hit the brakes.
“What you’ve done there, is negotiate a contract,” “That’s not legal . . . the administration can negotiate a contract. You can ask that the administration negotiate a contract but you can’t do it yourself. I would really like (City Administrator) Rick (Childers) to negotiate that contract and send it through the proper legal channels.”
Green balked again at Bond’s assertion that he had “taken it upon himself” to speak to a local physician about assisting the city with prisoner care.
“You can’t ‘take it upon yourself.’ You can’t act on behalf of the city by yourself,” Green said. “I admire what you’re doing and your diligence is wonderful but what you’re doing is completely overstepping the bounds of a council person.”
From that point, Bond moved forward the presentation of a contract to consolidate Richmond and Ray County 911 services. He opened that discussion with a stern-worded assessment of the present situation.
“We had public hearings, there were assessments conducted months ago,” Bond said. “It’s common sense . . . and I’ll say it again, so the people in Washington, D.C., can hear it too . . . two 911 systems in six blocks of each other is ludicrous.”
The contract, which had been negotiated by council member Tom Williams and Bond, carries a first-year cost of $182,576, which includes a one-time $27,500 start-up cost. The second year, which had been added to the original in a meeting between Ray County 911 officials, Williams and Bond, would cost approximately $155,000. Bond then motioned to accept the contract.
Again, Green hit the brakes.
“ How do you meet, just the two of you, and negotiate a contract?” Green asked, specifying they could be designated to seek out information but not negotiate. “You can’t negotiate a contract.”
Both contracts ended up tabled to be discussed later. Afterwards, as Bond and Green scrutinized both contracts, tensions appeared to have eased. Green gave his assurance that he approved of the information before him – he just wasn’t thrilled with the manner in which it was conveyed.
It’s a strict matter of protecting city liability, Green said. Bond indicated that the addendum to the contract had been based on previous council discussions.
“The way that the procedure works, is that the council can only take action if five members of the council vote to take action,” Green said. “The only time that any action can be taken by five or more is if it’s in session, because it’s a meeting. If there’s three or more, that’s a violation of the Sunshine Law.”
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