Officials back 16 positions for county jail

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County’s justices of the peace reversed course Monday, voting to approve 16 new positions for the Detention Center over the objections of the head of the Budget Committee.

“We have to have the money first,” Ann Harbison, justice of the peace for District 14 in southern Washington County and committee chairwoman, said during the discussion of the Jail Budget. Harbison challenged the other justices of the peace to find a way to cover the $800,000 cost of the new positions.

“I want a show of hands of every JP who’s going to vote to raise the millage from 4.4 mills to 5 mills,” Harbison said. “We need the money first. If you haven’t got the backbone to pass the millage, you ought not to do the easy thing.”

Harbison has said she wants to initially review the proposed 2020 budgets for the county’s elected officials and departments with no raises for employees and no new positions. Harbison said she wanted the county to set a goal of having minimum of $4 million in reserve and to have that money set aside before considering raises and new positions.

Harbison said she has a budget session set for Nov. 12 to discuss funding for raises and new positions and she didn’t think the Budget Committee would endorse the new positions before that meeting.

“I’m not going to get mad and resign, but I am surprised,” Harbison said after the meeting. “I expect it to be funded now. I think my question was very germane, even though it was called out of order. If they want to do this, they’re going to have to fund it.”

Sheriff Tim Helder was cautiously optimistic that the committee had advanced his budget with the 16 new positions included.

“It’s not approved yet, it just got moved forward,” Helder said. “I think they recognized that it’s a need,

not a want. Now it boils down to finding the money for it.”

According to information presented by the Sheriff’s Office staff, the 16 new positions will be used to add to the Detention Center’s booking and release staff. The Sheriff’s Office provided information showing that with Springdale having announced the city will be closing its municipal holding facility, which the Sheriff’s Office estimated will add about 7,500 individuals brought to the jail, the staff is projected to do intake work on about 22,454 individuals, do book-in work on 22,852 and release 22,754 detainees, bringing the total number of individuals handled through the intake, booking and release area to about 68,000.

Capt. Alan Johnson told the justices of the peace the Detention Center is now exceeding a daily population count of 700 detainees. The Detention Center has a design capacity of 710 beds and is considered full when the number of detainees reaches 80% to 90% of that number. Johnson said the Sheriff’s Office has a day-shift staff of 31 employees in a “best-case scenario” when all positions are filed, no one is on vacation and no one is out sick. The night shift in the jail has 27 employees in a similar situation. Having 16 new employees will add four people to each shift.

“We’re being as efficient as we can with the people we have, but we’re putting our people at risk,” Johnson said.

The justices of the peace voted multiple times on the question of the jail budget, with tempers becoming frayed at times.

Eva Madison, justice of the peace for District 9 in Fayetteville, told Harbison she was out of order when Harbison raised the question of funding and asked that the discussion be kept to the question on the floor and that everyone be mindful of their words and tone of voice.

“This has been a stressful enough meeting without you yelling at us,” Madison told Harbison.

Judith Yanez, justice of the peace for District 4 in Springdale, had to ask what she was voting on. Yanez also criticized the conduct of the Quorum Court’s budget review.

“As a new JP, I don’t understand the process and we’re voting on things I don’t think we should be voting on,” Yanez said.