Sheriff's plans bring uncertainty, frustration
Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor's recent declaration that his office will stop managing the jail starting Jan. 1 has brought uncertainty and frustration.
On Wednesday, Taylor sent a strongly worded letter to the chairwoman of the Oklahoma County Jail Trust saying “it is my desire” that the trust take over operations of the jail at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1.
Taylor said the jail has become impossible to run because of issues like being underfunded, insults of his management style and numerous jail employees resigning or retiring due to confusion and mistrust of the ongoing transition process.
“There doesn't seem to be a real time table, so I'm trying to provide a little knowledge and leadership and direction
for the trust,” Taylor said at a press conference Thursday. “( The trust) has to take the liability and the responsibility. They wanted this jail, then take it.”
“I wish more people would have stepped up and acknowledged the fact that “you are really doing a tremendous job over there, and your employees are,” he added, referring to the positive changes made since he became sheriff in 2017. “But for the most part, it has gone unnoticed.”
Taylor, who also serves on the jail trust, was against the trust's August vote to remove his office and hire a jail administrator. He said he had not discussed his letter directly with any of the other trustees.
The trust, operating for roughly five months and created to reform the struggling county jail, is in the process of hiring an administrator and plans to take over jail management early next year but has not yet set a firm date.
Officials who either received the letter or learned about it were caught off guard.
“I am surprised that he is making such a public statement, even though that is his prerogative,” said trust chairwoman Tricia Everest.
Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan said he had not been alerted to the sheriff's intentions and was frustrated the sheriff kept
bringing up funding issues since the county increased the office's budget for this fiscal year.
“I'm extremely concerned at his outburst and disappointed,” Maughan said. “He has a record-low number of inmates and a record-high amount of funding. At some point, you just have to say `we will make do with what we've got.'”
During the Thursday news conference, Taylor repeatedly mentioned Commissioner Kevin Calvey as someone who had been causing problems for the sheriff's office and the jail. The two have had a tense relationship over the last several months as the trust's work has progressed.
Particularly, Taylor said that Calvey had tried to reserve parts of the sheriff's budget for the trust starting Jan. 1, so that was why he picked that date to quit operating the jail.
Calvey said he believed the best choice would be the consult the future jail administrator on specific dates for the official transition.
“The people have been asking for citizen oversight over the jail and a jail administrator for over 20 years,” Calvey said. “This is not something new. This is not something I started… Not everybody likes every change, and that's okay.”
Everest said she's not sure if the trust will be able to meet the sheriff's suggested deadline, but work is continuing on locating funding sources, reviewing jail administrator applications and preserving county benefits for current jail employees.
“This does throw us into more uncertainty,” Everest said. “But we are committed as a trust to be focused on creating solutions as a group, with the county staff and with the community.”
If the trust is not ready to take over operations Jan. 1, it is unclear what ability the sheriff would have to enforce his deadline. Until the county agrees to turn responsibility of the jail over to the trust, the sheriff's office has a constitutional duty to run the jail.
When asked, the sheriff just said he hoped the trust would be ready.
“Assuming that everything isn't ready at that moment,” Everest said, `the jail would still be under the operation of the sheriff. So that responsibility would fall on them, so it would be a big decision for him to make.”
Commissioner Carrie Blumert said the county is already brainstorming ideas to help the trust be ready for the first of the year.
“From the county's end, we will do everything in our power in the next two months to be as ready as possible for Jan. 1,” Blumert said. “I'm disappointed that the sheriff gave us such a small time frame, but we are going to work with it.”