JAILHOUSE BLUES
Delco facing $370G legal tag for prison issues; contract with private firm expiring
MEDIA » Delaware County Controller Joanne Phillips pulled some bills from the County Board of Prison Inspectors after they totaled more than $370,000 and county Councilman Kevin Madden called for a public airing of the situation.
The 1,800-plus inmate prison is managed by Florida-based GEO Group and its contract with Delaware County expires Dec. 31. In conjunction with that, the prison board has been evaluating whether to stay with the private operator versus the advantages and disadvantages of bringing in a public operator.
Earlier this week, Phillips, a Democrat, gave county council a memo outlining her concern about the legal fees tallied by three law firms - DiOrio & Sereni LLP, Ronald G. Henry, PLLC and Blank, Rome, Cominsky & McCauley. Her calculations determined $372,258 had been billed by the three to the county for work related to the procurement of an operator for the prison.
“Considering the magnitude of the expenses and my concern over possible duplicative work, I am calling this to your attention and ask that you review this work and confirm that the county should pay certain of these bills as submitted,” Phillips wrote in her memo.
She said DiOrio & Sereni billed the county and received $96,548.50 for work through Aug. 7. She said Henry, whose contract began Feb. 14 and was capped at $45,000 but then increased to $90,000 in June, billed the county $55,115 through July.
Phillips also pointed to five bills submitted by Blank Rome from February through July that equaled
$220,595. “Although the DiOrio and Henry bills have been paid to date, my office is holding the Blank Rome bills pending review by council,” the controller wrote. “In light of the fact that the invoices exceed the budget for legal services, I request that council examine the scope of work being done by the three firms and the costs that have been and will be incurred by the county.”
She, like Madden, a fellow Democrat, called for a meeting of council and the board to receive an explanation of these expenses, the status of the project and the possibility that some of these fees may be renegotiated.
Robert DiOrio is the solicitor for the county Prison Board of Inspectors and he said his fees are far less than those stated by the controller.
“I don’t know where Joanne got the number from,” DiOrio said, adding that from Jan. 1 through Thursday, he had been paid
$54,765.
He added that this contract to manage the prison is sizeable — $250 million for its entirety, or $50 million a year for five years.
DiOrio said both Henry and particularly Lawrence J. Beaser of Blank Rome have served the prison board and the county previously.
“This area is a highly specialized area,” DiOrio said, adding that government contract and government procurement is one of their specialties. “That’s why they were engaged. They are the best.”
Although he did not know how far over budget the prison legal fees were, he said the overall prison budget has decreased by $750,000 due in part to a decrease in population this year.
In addition, he said the prison board did not anticipate doing this evaluation.
“The primary reason that this particular task was not budgeted was because when the budget was formulated, it was formulated long before the board and the county decided to go down this route,” he said.
Other costs occurred in crafting the proposal.
“One of the important aspects that has occurred is the contract that the prison board has with the provider as a result of this process has been rewritten,” he said. Some of those include the removal of the provision in the current contract that the provider has the unilateral right to terminate the contract. In addition, there are more provisions for IT security.
Of a public meeting with council, DiOrio said the subject came up at the monthly prison board meeting and he was uncertain whether the prison board would attend or participate in such a meeting.
He said anyone is welcome to attend the prison board meeting, the next of which is 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10.
“The board does understand that in the next month or two, a decision has to be made as to continuing with the present model or going with a different system,” he said.
County Councilman Brian Zidek, a Democrat, offered his own observations on the matter.
Of DiOrio & Sereni, Zidek said, “They gave $3,650 to the Republican Finance Committee in 2017. Mr. Henry gave $2,500 to the Republican Finance Committee in 2017 and $2,850 to the Republican Finance Committee or Republican state reps through June of 2018, and perhaps others, I don’t know.”
Of Blank Rome, Zidek said they “shockingly did not donate, so, get on that guys.”
County Council Chairman John McBlain, a Republican, said he would follow up with the prison board and the prison staff.
“I certainly think council ought to look at any expenditure to make sure it’s appropriate,” he said.
McBlain also pointed to the lower expenses on the total prison budget because of the lower population, as well as the fact that the prison board did not budget for the process at the time they created their own budget.
“They were done in response to questions that have been raised this year, good questions, legitimate policy questions,” he said.
In the meantime, Phillips said she’s aware that either way the prison board goes — public or private — the attorneys still have more to do with negotiations ahead.
“My concern is that we’re not done,” she said. “We’re not done ... There’s still work that needs to be done.”