The Tri-County Regional Community Corrections Board held a regular board meeting in the Polk County Justice Center on Monday morning.
MONTHLY DEPARTMENTS STATISTICAL REPORTS REVIEW
After the Call to Order, the board began with the approval of the monthly statistics review and a Statistical Reports Review of all departments for September. The board heard from Executive Director Andrew Larson, who reported that the jail held 153 inmates, though 45 were at per diems. The average daily population was over 150 inmates, with about 130 of them being male inmates. Many of the inmates were also those currently awaiting trial. He hoped this would be the last month for their accounts receivable to see those receivables come in.
PERSONNEL REPORTS
The board then received an update on Personnel issues from Director Andrew Larson, who reported they had hired three new Corrections Officers. The first was Justice Chase, who started on September 19, and Officers Robert Manecke, who would start work in the Center on October 17, and Leonardo Carrizales, who had worked with the Center before is returning as a Corrections Officer and will begin on October 24. There were two transitions within the Center: Lindsay Cournia transitioning from being a Support Staff Supervisor to a Probation Secretary Clerk III, and Denise Cole transitioning from Probation Secretary Clerk II to Clerk III. Larson also reported that STS Crew Leader Guy Gullekson had passed the probationary period. They did have one resignation on September 29, which was Corrections Officer Gabriela Valdez Trevino. Finally, they had one offer they withdrew from Corrections Officer Jace Bueng. The board approved the report unanimously. With these changes, Larson said they were doing well with staffing, but there were a few positions they still needed to fill.
2023 INSURANCE RENEWAL RATES
The board then began a discussion on their Insurance Renewal Rates for 2023. Larson explained that they were in a 2-year agreement with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which places a cap on the increase in their renewal rate this year by 10.5%. Without it, they would have seen an increase of 25%. Deputy Director Paul Bissonette also reported that he was looking to get the renewal rates for the agreement by October 25 or 26.
2023 BUDGET ‘DRAFT’ FY 2023
The board then began a discussion about a draft for the 2023 Budget. Larson explained that he hadn’t made any adjustments from their last meeting. He noted that the budget’s bottom line was a $412,000 increase from their budget of 2022 (totaling $6,715,574) due to personnel costs and the reopening of the Red River Juvenile Center. He noted that Polk County would bear the brunt of the County Cost Share as they had the largest demographic of inmates, using the most probation expenses, and having the most jail usage over the last five years. “For 2023, the County Cost share has Polk County cover 88% of our expenses, Norman County covers 8.1%, and Red Lake County covers 3.7%,” Larson explained. “That number changes a little bit from year to year because of jail usage and probation expenses.” To offset some of the personnel costs, the Center is purchasing new technology items like laptops and electronic health records to help lower costs in the future. The board approved the draft unanimously.
CONTRACTS/AGREEMENTS
The board then began discussions for the approval of multiple contracts. The first was a contract with Unique Security Inc. for a Service & Maintenance Renewal Agreement for the year. He noted there were no changes in the rates, and the company would come for two visits to the Jail and Juvenile Center to check the systems for $35,000, which would bring no changes to the contract but would renew it for 2023.
Summit Food Service Agreement Amendment
The next contract they discussed was an adjustment to the meal price in their contract with Summit Food Services beginning on January 29. Larson noted there was an 8.5% annual increase in food service costs for 2023 due to inflation. However, due to their good relations with Summit, Larson recommended they continue working with them for food services. “We knew that we were going to see some increases due to inflation for this year, and not surprisingly, we did see a much bigger increase than what we typically see,” Larson explained. “We saw an 8.5% increase in our cost for meals from Summit, though I can say that in some of the conversations we’ve had with other jails around the state, some jails are seeing huge increases anywhere from 20 to 35% in some places of increases in food service costs. So, while 8.5% is a bigger number than we’re used to, considering what some other jails are seeing, 8.5% seems pretty reasonable.” Larson also mentioned that if there were any staffing issues in their food service team, they could bring someone from their Grand Forks branch to help fill the openings. The board approved both contracts unanimously.
Ninth Judicial District Cooperative Agreement
The final contract they discussed was about a renewal with the Tri-County DWI Court for another Cooperative Agreement with the Ninth Judicial District. Larson explained this would provide funding for their DWI court agents for the year. However, there was a change in the costs, with a decrease in the total dollar amount for the year because of some staff turnover, so they would replace some higher-paid staff members with lower-paid staff members. The grant would cover the salary of $1.625 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) and the purchase of cell phones for each of the staff members for $133,700.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
The board then discussed the reopening of the Red River Valley Juvenile Center, with them receiving an update from Larson about the revised timeline. Larson explained that there was another delay with the HVAC system delivery by another three weeks, which pushed back the reopening of the Center until mid-to-late December, pending other delays. Larson also gave an update on their recruitment efforts to hire workers for the Center. “While the Juvenile Center’s opening is going to be delayed, we’re not going to make any adjustments to our hiring or recruitment timeframes we established. Instead, we will likely provide them with some opportunities to get custody experience by providing assistance within the jail. It’s just not realistic for us to push back any of our hiring efforts as we may lose some of those people who have expressed interest,” Larson explained. “What we’ll do is start the training process for the Juvenile Center and then give them some time within the jail because many of them aren’t going to have a background working in a custody environment. So I think spending some time in our adult jail, providing support will be very beneficial back there.” The process would take about one month before they begin work in November. They already have some applicants for the positions, but some were turned away due to lack of experience, or others had pulled their applications.
Larson also mentioned that the Alluma Care Coordinator had been hired for the Center, who would start on Thursday, October 13. Another item was that Larson had applied for a Technical Assistance Grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which creates teams of professionals to go to rural communities to help people with substance use and addiction. Larson had created and applied a team for the grant consisting of himself, County Commissioner Joan Lee, Polk County Sheriff Jim Tadman, Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese, a representative from Alluma, and a supervisor from Polk County Social Services. Larson said he had submitted the application and would hear a response on the team’s approval by November.
The board finished the meeting by approving the counties’ invoices and bills for September, which they approved unanimously.
The board will meet again on Monday, November 14, at the Tri-County Corrections Center.
