County board hears jail trust report

their meeting Wednesday.

Grau, chairman of a committee formed in April to explore formation of a jail trust, presented a status report at the meeting.

The committee recommends the jail be operated by a seven-member trust composed of the three county commissioners, the sheriff and three citizens appointed by the commissioners.

Grau said about 20 percent of the counties in Oklahoma have some sort of trust to oversee detention operations.

If the Board of County Commissioners decides to form the trust, the next step would be to develop an operational agreement between the board and the trust, he said.

“The operational agreement is the meat of the trust and what the trust does,” Grau said. The committee will pursue an agreement for the board’s consideration, he said.

Also Wednesday, commissioners approved a contract extension with the state Office of Juvenile Affairs for housing youth in Oklahoma County Juvenile Detention Center.

Under the contract, OJA will continue to pay the county $81.52 per bed per day for operation of the 79-bed detention center at 5905 N Classen Court.

The contract period is for July 1, 2017, through March 31, 2018.

J’me Overstreet, county juvenile bureau director, and Terry Smith, OJA deputy director, both recommended approval. The 2016-17 contract expired June 30, so OJA has not been able to reimburse the county since July 1.

Commissioner Willa Johnson voted against the contract because of concerns about the reimbursement rate, which may not cover the actual cost to the county of providing juvenile detention services.

Johnson also objects to the contract because it allows OJA to reduce the reimbursement in case of a revenue failure.

County officials have been discussing for some time what their actual cost is, but haven’t “come up with a hard number to present to OJA,” said Rick Buchanan, chief deputy for Commissioner Ray Vaughn.

The detention center is in a complex with other juvenile agencies, which makes it difficult to determine the cost “just of that division,” Buchanan said.

“It all comes down to whether OJA can even afford to reimburse us at that rate,” he said. “They reserve the right to declare they don’t have the money to do that.”