(August 13, 2008)—McLennan County Commissioners picked up Wednesday where they left off after a heated meeting Tuesday and voted 3-2 to renew the county’s contract with Community Education Centers to operate the downtown county jail and to authorize the New Jersey-based company to finance, build and operate a new 871-bed county jail next to the existing facility on Highway 6.
County Judge Jim Lewis and Commissioners Ray Meadows and Wendall Crunk voted in favor of authorizing the privately constructed and operated facility.
Commissioners Lester Gibson and Joe Mashek voted against the proposal.
The vote Wednesday came after commissioners recessed a contentious meeting Tuesday rather than adjourning.
During the meeting Tuesday, Mashek questioned whether Lewis had given CEC an edge in competing for the project and said he was forwarding a report to the Texas Ethics Commission.
The county sent requests to 14 vendors around the country for plans to ease overcrowding in the county’s jail facilities, but in July, there was just one response and it was from CEC, which used to be known as CiviGenics.
CEC has leased the downtown facility since 1999, but because of overcrowding in the county-operated jail on Highway 6, the county has been paying the company to hold prisoners there, which cuts into the $1 million a year CEC pays for use of the facility.
Among CEC’s secure facilities are the Limestone County Detention Center and the Falls County Jail and Detention Center in Marlin.
CEC Web Site
County commissioners said earlier a privately constructed jail would help them avoid a bond election and a tax increase, but opponents of privatization had argued against turning jail operations over to for-profit companies.
"It's a public safety concern,” said Ken Witt, president of the McLennan County Sheriff’s Officers Association told commissioners last month.
County officials were considering four potential alternatives.
The first option involved having a private firm build and operate the new jail, but for the county to continue to run the Highway 6 and downtown jail facilities.
The second, which commissioners approved Wednesday, involves having a private firm build and operate the new jail and to operate the downtown jail.
The third involved having a private firm build and operate the new jail and to contract with a private firm to operate both the Highway 6 and downtown jails.
The fourth proposal involved a contract with a private firm to build the new jail and to take over operations for all of the county’s jail facilities.
Last week, commissioners voted to continue to operate the Highway 6 jail as a publicly run facility, assuaging the concerns of staffers who feared the loss of income and benefits.
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