LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to authorize the county administrative officer to send the state a letter returning a $20 million state jail expansion grant.
The board approved the request submitted by County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson and Sheriff Brian Martin.
Huchingson explained that in early 2014 the county received the $20 million grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections to expand and upgrade the Hill Road Correctional Facility. The grant requires a 5-percent match from the county.
The jail expansion was expected to require 18 additional staffers, which Huchingson said was going to cost at least $1.2 million and possibly as much as $2 million more a year.
Then-Sheriff Frank Rivero and former County Administrative Officer Matt Perry submitted the application, Huchingson explained.
At that time, the jail's census was above capacity, but the number of inmates has since been reduced, said Huchingson.
However, Huchingson argued that the more pressing reason to relinquish the grant was that the county's ability to fund the increased staffing and operations “has been greatly diminished” in the wake of the series of wildland fires over the past year.
The design phase is nearing completion, and Huchingson said she and Martin have been meeting over the last several months about their concerns regarding the grant and different options besides relinquishing it.
However, “We just cannot foresee when the county would be in a position to fund those additional costs,” Huchingson said.
She said the county administration is looking at a minimum three-year plan to restore the county's financial well-begin in the face of the wildland fires, but the Board of State and Community Corrections is only willing to consider waiting a year.
A number of jurisdictions have had to relinquish projects for various reasons, though not due to a wildland fire, Huchingson said.
The state has assured local officials that the county would not be penalized and would be eligible to apply for future funding, she said.
When the board considers the final recommended 2016-17 budget on Wednesday, Huchingson said the jail expansion project's cost won't be included in that document, and she asked for the authorization to send the letter relinquishing the grant.
Sheriff Martin gave a history of the changes in the jail population, explaining that it started with overcrowding conditions in the state's prisons, which led to a lawsuit that placed population caps on prisons.
The state Legislature then passed AB 109. In 2011 Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill, which implemented public safety realignment.
In Lake County, there was a subsequent a spike in the jail population, Martin said.
Martin said the jail is licensed for a maximum capacity of 286 inmates. At one point after realignment began, the jail had 413 inmates.
He said the former sheriff's administration had applied for the grant under what at that time was an emergency situation.
Proposition 47, passed by the voters in November 2014, changed a number of crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. That initiative, said Martin, initially caused the jail population to drop well below capacity, although it has since started creeping back up and is now just under the maximum number of 286 inmates.
To adequately staff and maintain the expanded jail would be very costly, and Martin argued that the county simply can't afford it.
“For our county and for our budgets at this point, I don't think it's in our best interest to commit to this kind of ongoing funding given what's happened over the years,” Martin said.
Supervisor Anthony Farrington questioned Martin about the jail's population issues, asking if the county is facing any potential violation.
Martin replied that facilities can operate at capacity although it's not optimal. He said the state prison system was ordered by the courts not to operate above 137 percent of capacity, and Martin said Lake County is not near that number but right at its licensed capacity.
Farrington said it was hard to walk away from $20 million and questioned how long it would take to complete the project.
Huchingson said it's estimated to be two years out. At the same time, referring to the plan to improve the county's fiscal outlook, she said the goal is to have the county breaking even in three years.
Farrington asked if the county can reduce the footprint of the expansion. Martin said it would require going through the application process again.
Board Chair Rob Brown said that in years past, when the old jail – now the site of the District Attorney's Office behind the courthouse on N. Forbes Street – was well over capacity, the county of Lake had an arrangement with the neighboring counties of Colusa and Mendocino to house inmates in their facilities. He said he's spoken to Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman about a similar arrangement.
Huchingson said she had spoken to her counterpart in Mendocino, where they've also submitted an application seeking funding for a jail project. She suggested revising the draft letter to the Board of State and Community Corrections suggesting working together and regional collaboration on such projects.
Brown said he didn't like turning away the money, either, considering the county already has invested money in the process, but he said due to the county's inability to fund the expansion, it didn't make sense to continue.
He also questioned the motivations at the time, and whether the information brought forward from the sheriff's office when the application was made was valid or an end to justify the means.
“I'm convinced we don't have the ability to fund this thing once it's opened up,” especially considering the wildland fires, he said.
Huchingson told the board that the design work becomes the county's document, and Public Services Director Lars Ewing added that the expenditures the county has made are for design. “We do get deliverables from that.”
And while that plan could be shelved, it also could be brought forward again at some point in the future, upgraded and reused, he said.
Supervisor Jeff Smith asked how much money the county has spent so far.
County Deputy Administrative Officer Jeff Rein said about $900,000 has been spent of the required 5-percent match, which requires a total of $1 million be invested by the county.
Huchingson said the jail expansion project already was looking like it was going to be over budget. Rein explained that the total cost was approaching $22.5 million, with the $2.5 million overage going to have to be borne by the county.
Huchingson said that the Board of State and Community Corrections estimated that there would be a 6-percent increase in cost for every year the project was put off.
Brown asked about current staffing levels. Martin and his administrative staff reported that there are seven correctional officer vacancies.
Smith pointed out that the jail already is releasing a lot of people, which he blamed on the state. “For us to have to kick people out of jail because we're full just sickens me.”
Huchingson asked the board to consider taking action on Tuesday, explaining that the county couldn't afford the project two years ago and it can't afford it now, with the impact of the wildland fires.
Supervisor Jim Steele moved to approve sending the letter relinquishing the grant with Supervisor Jim Comstock seconding. Brown joined them in voting for sending the letter, with Smith voting no. Farrington had left halfway through the discussion to go to court, so didn't vote.
Huchingson also asked for, and received, permission to include support for the Mendocino County project and regionalization in the letter.
In other business on Tuesday, the board hosted a swearing-in ceremony for Deputy Sheriff Anthony Bracisco and Correctional Officer Tabitha Chant; presented a proclamation designating September Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month in Lake County; held a public hearing and voted to approve an urgency ordinance that approved increasing landfill fees related to Clayton fire debris and establishing additional gate fees for debris generated from locally declared disasters; voted to abate a marijuana grow at 3940 Spring Valley Road in the Spring Valley subdivision east of Clearlake Oaks; approved a $480,000 engineering services agreement with Brelje & Race for the Anderson Springs Sewer Project; continued local emergency declarations due to the wildland fires and appointed Kati Galvani as Deputy Public Services Director I; and denied an appeal of the Lake County Planning Commission's decision to deny a minor use permit for a small kennel at 1656 Martin St. in Lakeport.
The board held off again on any action on Epic Wireless Group's appeal – on behalf of Verizon Wireless – of the Lake County Planning Commission's denial of a use permit for the construction of a new 75-foot monopole cell tower at 5660 Staheli Drive, Kelseyville.
Brown said he was contacted that morning by the Kelseyville Unified School District that wants to consider co-locating the tower facility on the new football stadium lights.
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Supervisors vote to return $20 million jail expansion grant to the state
- Elizabeth Larson
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