Delco to hire consultant to analyze prison transition
“There is some understandable degree of desire to get this going. We’ve been talking about deprivatization for a few years now. This was the year to really get started. The pandemic has pushed this off a bit but now is the time to get going.”
— Board Chairman and county Councilman Kevin Madden
The Delaware County Jail Oversight Board is searching for a consultant to perform an analysis on what it would take to transition the privately operated prison back to public operation.
Last month, the board discussed setting up a transition team and a transition manager, though that has not yet been done. At least one member of the board wants to see action be expedited.
“There is some understandable degree of desire to get this going,” board Chairman and county Councilman Kevin Madden said. “We’ve been talking about deprivatization for a few years now. This was the year to really get started. The pandemic has pushed this off a bit but now is the time to get going.”
Delaware County Executive Director Howard Lazarus said if the board sent out requests for qualifications, the earliest the board would have a consultant would be early December and then he estimated the evaluation would take one to two months to complete, putting the beginning of transitioning to deprivatization at April at the earliest.
He said he had received an unsolicited proposal from CGL, which had performed a similar analysis for a facility in Virginia, and that he was familiar with Jones Lang LaSalle in terms of its real estate transaction expertise.
Board Solicitor Shelley Smith explained that due to the scope, impact and cost of the work, the board would need to make a recommendation on a firm to complete the study, and then have that approved by county council.
Adding that it was more of a hiring of professional services that is outside the realm of county council having to approve items over $25,000 as with procurements, Madden outlined what he wanted this analysis to do.
“When we think of this scope and this phase of the work, really at the end of the day what we’re trying to get is to have what we need to make an informed decision about pulling the trigger on the out clause in the contract with GEO,” the private firm operating the facility, he said, “and that means understanding the implications of doing so from a financial perspective and the budget, from a liability perspective and from a service perspective.”
Madden wanted more action on the issue.
“The idea of this going for another month until mid-November and then it still having to go in front of county council for approval of a contract, I think we’re talking about getting them started in December, it feels like too much of a delay and an unneeded one,” he said. “I would like to see this get expedited.”
He said the board could have a brief special meeting to review options to make a recommendation for council.
Board member and county Controller Joanne Phillips expressed caution.
“I’m all for moving forward and tracking this down … but we really need to be super vigilant and prudent in how we proceed so that we do it the right way,” she said. “And I know we want to do it and now it’s on our plate but it’s not something I want to be rushed into.”
She noted that the county faced significant prospects this month including the election and the budget that likewise need attention.
“I think those two priorities of speed and making sure we are diligent, they are not mutually exclusive,” Madden said. “We can proceed with both in mind. I do realize there is a lot on the county’s plate right now. The management of the prison impacts lots and lots of families throughout the county daily and I want to make sure that we are doing all we can to keep this moving forward.”
In addition, Phillips suggested setting up a transition subcommittee, including staff members who will work on the transition. Madden noted the transition team that had been brought up at September’s Jail Oversight Board meeting.
Lazarus said he hadn’t pursued its formation but recommended that the transition manager be the person who may or may not become the facility’s warden. Acting Warden Donna Mellon, after 20 years in service to Delaware County corrections and more than 30 in criminal justice, has announced her intention to retire Dec. 18 to spend more time with her family.
Lazarus said he will need external help to help assemble the transition team and locate a transition manager. He said most of the county staff has been consumed with election efforts.
“I hesitate with three weeks until the election to divert people’s attention from that,” he said.
Madden reiterated his desire to see the issue of the deprivatization transition being addressed more than once a month at Jail Oversight Board meetings.