Trust formally accepts CARES Act money

The Oklahoma County Jail Trust formally accepted $34 million in CARES Act funding during a meeting Monday in a 7-2 vote.

A list detailing what the money will be spent on has not been released yet, and the roughly 40 demonstrators who addressed the trust during public comment were furious the money was accepted before a plan was announced.

“It's going to be spent within the guidelines of the CARES Act,” said Trustee Jim Couch, referring to the federal COVID19 relief package approved by Congress this spring.

“We don't trust you,” protesters yelled back, many shouting expletives.

Trustee Francie Ekwerekwu tried to defer accepting the money until the full plan could be released. Her motion was denied.

The two “no” votes were Ekwerekwu, a public defender, and Trustee Danny Honeycutt, legal counsel for the county sheriff's office.

Whether the trust would accept the money has been highly anticipated by a group of community members who have repeatedly expressed their frustration with the decision to spend roughly 75% of the county's CARES Act dollars on the jail.

Funding from the CARES Act came with stipulations, and if government entities don't spend the funds correctly by Dec. 30, the federal government has to be repaid.

Many worry that in the rush to give the trust $34 million, the county will find itself facing serious legal issues.

“You're going to run up against huge timelines,” one speaker said. “You will be audited. ... How are you going to actually get this done by Dec. 31?”

Another speaker said the jail has been “rotting for decades,” and noted that one stipulation for spending CARES Act funds is that the money must be used on costs caused by COVID-19 after March 1, 2020.

Trust Chairwoman Tricia Everest said the trust will spend the money correctly, adding that detailed plans will be released to the public before the trust's Sept. 21 meeting.

Renovating the jail's medical unit will be a top priority, she said.

“What I heard today is that a lot (of people) feel that we have already spent the funds or that we will create ways to spend it,” Everest said, referring to claims from demonstrators that trustees would misuse the money.

“That is just not what the trustees want to do. We want to lawfully identify what we can and cannot do, and be able to appropriate the funds back out as quickly as possible.”

Even if there are no legal problems, some members of the public are angry at the plan to spend most of the county's federal funding on the jail rather than on social relief tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, like rental assistance and small business loans.

“We have people who are homeless, we have people who cannot feed their children, we have people who cannot feed themselves,” one woman said. “Yet here you are in front of me saying that we should ... steal upwards of $40 million from hungry Oklahomans to take care of a jail that has been crumbling since it was constructed.”

Also during Monday's meeting, the trust formally approved spending an additional $3 million in CARES Act funding to rehabilitate plumbing and air conditioning units in the jail.

Jail Administrator Greg Williams said the jail has partnered with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department to create plans for safely releasing people from the jail, which recently experienced a COVID19 outbreak.

Trustees also received a report from the jail's psychological team on procedures for dealing with individuals on suicide watch.