By Douglas P. Marsh
dmarsh@cherryroad.com
After a final pitch Aug. 13 by the Ogemaw County Sheriff’s Office, with plans to boost inmate populations and revenues, the Ogemaw County Board of Commissioners opted to pursue an agreement with Roscommon County to provide permanent housing for Ogemaw County inmates. Ogemaw County Jail is to be converted into a 72-hour lock-up and sheriff’s department operations moved in from the older building across the street.
Sheriff Brian Gilbert had suggested accepting as many as 40 more inmates from Grand Traverse County at the board’s Aug. 8 meeting. Undersheriff Paul Frechette said a telephone conference had taken place including county administrator/controller Tim Dolehanty and members of the sheriff’s department and county commission sometime before the Aug. 13 meeting.
“It was good conversation,” said Dolehanty. “My immediate question was is this a longterm arrangement. The answer, simply, is no. They’re looking at probably 3 to 4 months.”
Dolehanty said the arrangement would bring in about $60,000 in revenues through the end of the year with less certainty beyond that. Frechette estimated the agreement would bring the county $145,600 in gross revenues. Board chair Jenny David said staffing at the jail concerned her.
“Two weeks ago, it was we were barely able to do what we had,” said David. “So my concern is bringing another 40 in at our current staffing. What is our plan for 90 days with our staffing levels without tons of overtime?”
“He’s done a heck of a job as far as filling gaps and everything but we’re up against it,” said Frechette. “We’re going to do the best that we can. This would be additional revenue in hopes of creating a long-range plan that would keep the jail open, solve it.”
Frechette acknowledged that staffing levels were at minimum and that the situation remained as described at the board of commissioners’ meeting Aug. 1, where Gilbert said the loss of one more staff member in the county’s corrections department would likely result in emergency relocation of Ogemaw County Jail’s inmates.
“All I know is we’ve asked them to do this and they have,” said commissioner Roger Mayhew. “I know it ain’t sounding great but as far as I can see we ain’t got a whole lot of choice. Give them a chance. What are we going to lose?”
Discussion shifted to county transit operations before returning to the jail, this time for commissioners to consider the prospect of a millage proposal. Dolehanty advised the board they had roughly half an hour to come to a decision and reviewed options, including projections for different millage rates and staffing levels, a projection of status quo operations in the case of a failed millage proposal and some new details around a potential agreement with Roscommon County to accept inmates from Ogemaw County.
David invited Frechette back to the table and asked what millage rate he suggested. Frechette proposed a 1 mill levy and Mayhew and commissioner Brenda Simmons agreed to the amount, with Simmons hesitant about the proposal itself and the implications of continuing operations at the jail.
“I don’t think we can afford to take the risk,” she said.
“Is this an ultimatum?” asked commissioner Craig Scott. “If the voters vote it down, are we going to go a different route or not? If we’re going to keep it open, and at $2.3 million, then we have to go someplace else in the county. Are we just going to cut one person out of every office then?”
“I don’t know if we’re at a point in time where we can make that decision right now,” said David. “We’re talking about a millage.”
“Oh yeah, we’re right here at this point, right now,” said Scott. “The medical cost us $180,000 this year. Now it’s projected 191. We’ll save $150,000.”
Dolehanty had said the agreement with Roscommon County would include $40,000 for inmate medical costs. David asked Scott to lower his voice.
Commissioner Charles Wiltse said he needed a longer commitment from Grand Traverse County to support a millage proposal and continuing to house inmates on a permanent basis. Simmons echoed Scott and Wiltse’s points and said the risks and costs were too high for her to support a millage proposal.
“We came down to the very end of the stopwatch here. I don’t want to see this go to just a lock-up. I think once it does, the chance of that ever turning around will be bare minimum. This impacts a lot of residents in this community,” said David. “I wanted to hear from the public. So my vote on the millage was yes at 1 mill. But I believe we have 3 nos and 2 yeses so that’s where we’re at.”
