Margo Chambers is a citizen activist who closely follows metro events. In this letter to members of the Metro Council she ask that the Capital Improvements Budget be amended to remove spending on the Sheriff's relocation plan. I think she makes a good argument.
From: "Margo Chambers"
Subject: Today's Vote on Capital Spending
Date: June 14, 2016 at 11:58:20 AM CDT
To:
Greetings,
Nashville needs a Judicial Campus Master Plan before more money is spent on
Sheriff renovation or consolidation “plans”.
Yesterday I attended a tour of the Harding Place Jail. Four days
prior to this tour, I was permitted to sit in a CJC Renovation Meeting for 15
minutes. Two very different stories from the Sheriff Department were
delivered in less than 100 hours.
Yesterday I listened to Sheriff Hall explain why the consolidation of four
sheriff properties from downtown will be a part of the Capital Spending request
given to Council, today. He explained he does not know ‘where’ certain
other ideas for the CJC Renovation plan came from – but it wasn’t from
HIM.
The Sheriff’s pitch yesterday: the reason Council should spend $20M or $40M to consolidate the Sheriff’s four properties into the CJC Renovation project is... every other Metro department does this! Every other Metro Departments get city funds without presenting a plan, so “Why not let the Sheriff” do this, too?
Last Thursday, I heard a Sheriff employee confirm
to the 'CJC Renovation' Design Team (chair is General Services, Nancy
Whittemore) that the Jerry Newson Training Facility would NOT be involved in
any part of the CJC Renovation project.
Today the Sheriff asks you to endorse several different versions of the
same project name. Please do not endorse this. A Failure to Plan, is
a Plan to Fail.
There has been no Judicial Campus Master Plan presented for two
years in a row. Despite the city paying a contractor $1.5M
to produce a Judicial Campus Master Plan. Despite the city awarding a
contract to produce a Judicial Campus Master Plan. Despite Council
voting down the (essentially same) Sheriff’s “plan”, last year!
Despite everybody understanding the CJC building is in bad shape!
Please approve amendments in this year’s budget which remove
spending taxpayer money on any Sheriff Relocation
“Plan”.
This would include not spending on the Sheriff’s CJC Renovation ‘plan’, or
an Inmate Relocation ‘plan’, or a Sheriff Consolidation ‘plan’, or any other
plan which applies to our Judicial Campus. Due to what the Sheriff said,
yesterday!
Please do not fund city projects which have several different versions of
the same plan name. The CJC Renovation Project should have ONE
version.
Do not approve spending on the CIB project CM Steve Glover inserted last
minute, into the CIB, last year. That action appears to have wasted at
least $10M worth of bond money.
Please approve amendments that will clarify how and when city money can be
spent. Establish accountability in the Procurement
department.
Things to consider - Inconsistencies given:
The Metro Procurement Department refuses to get a contract
deliverable: the Judicial Campus Master Plan. Council paid $1.5M in
2014 – and Contract 317260 was billed. Today, the Sheriff and General
Services claim they do not know what a “Judicial Campus” Master Plan
means. This points to a General Services “Fail”. If it is true that
no one knows what Judicial Campus Master Plan means then WHY does General
Services ask Council to spend $1.5M on something not defined? Is
Council going to let General Services do this again when Council approves
spending $1M, today, on a Juvenile Justice Center Master Plan? What
exactly does this mean?
Metro pays a private prison company (CCA) $20M a year to manage 1,000 empty
beds at the Harding Place facility. Today, Council is being asked
to use taxpayer money to ‘temporarily’ pay the Sheriff to house approx 1,000
inmates at the Harding Place facility - for the CJC Renovation.
Someone (Sheriff or CCA) at Harding Place already has the excess capacity needed
to temporarily house the inmates from the CJC center. Who is it (Sheriff
or CCA)? Should Metro pay TWICE, to house inmates?
I have found $17M in Revenue coming from the
State to Metro, for a Sheriff contract with CCA at the Harding Place
facility. I have not found a $20M Expense, per year for
the Metro/CCA 1,000 Empty Bed Management contract. This is another city
contract never communicated to Council (points to a Procurement “Fail”).
If consolidation and cost savings are important: can Metro save money
at Harding Place by asking the Sheriff and CCA to use the same vendors?
Yesterday on the jail tour I was told the Harding Place jail complex has two
vendors for things like medical care, inmate food, inmate clothing, phones,
etc. That seems odd.
And expensive. The Sheriff has one medical contract for ‘their’
inmates; CCA (at Harding Place) has a different medical contract at
Harding Place.
The State is involved a lot, with Sheriff duties and
responsibilities. According to the State, The Sheriff’s Office must be
located close to the main county jail (so it really does matter where the county
jail moves ‘to’). This affects “release” and “Pre-Trial Diversion” – which
affects Court Case load. Judicial Campus impacts.
In 2013, the State Comptroller issued a 'Finding' that Davidson County had
underreported (!) 5,000 inmate beds. The State
asked Metro for a refund. I did not see a reduction to Metro by the State
(as was suggested), due to this ‘Finding’.
Please do not vote to release Capital Spending dollars on an unknown and
unsafe Sheriff “plan”. Council will be held accountable for advancing a
poor city plan.
Margo Chambers
Nashville Resident District 24
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