COUNTY PRISON OVERTIME

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COUNTY PRISON OVERTIME

• Presentation by Allison Horton

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THE CASE

• The Democratic County Commissioners of Franklin
  County instituted a plan to cut costs in the
  county rather than raise taxes
• The Franklin County Prison was reluctant to
  comply with the County Finance Directors wishes
  regarding the rate of overtime use
• How can the cost containment program be
  successful if the Prison wont comply?

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THE CHARACTERS

• George Truly-County Administrator in charge of
  implementing the cost containment plan
• Donald Dexter-Finance Director charged with the
  operating responsibility of the plan by Truly
• Charles R. Goodheart-Director of Corrections
• Jim Kirby-Chair of the County Commission

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Continued

• Harvey Strickland-President of the Prison
  Board/presiding judge of common pleas court
• Geraldine Eager-Administrative Assistant to the
  minority commissioner chosen to lead the study
  on the prison overtime situation
• Joe Finley-Minority Commissioner/Eagers boss
  responsible for selling the idea of the study to
  the prison board

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MARCH 12

• Dexter sent memo to Goodheart
• He and his staff had been monitoring overtime
  expenditures and felt that they were completely
  out of control
• He wanted to be given a detailed justification
  for the current rate of overtime usage andplans
  to keep such expenditures to an absolute minimum.

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OUTCOME

• In the next few weeks there was no sign of change
  in the use of overtime at the County Prison
• Dexter was about to schedule a meeting with
  Goodheart when he received a memo

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APRIL 5

• Goodheart pointed out that the four surrounding
  counties have comparable prison systems that use
  MORE overtime than Franklin
• He continued to outline his reasoning and
  justification for overtime

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Reasons for Overtime Use

• Turnover rate among correctional officers
• Correctional officers are poorly paid
• Officers are required to work at very high stress
  levels
• Working conditions are very unpleasant and there
  is little public esteem

• Hospital watches
• If two inmates are hospitalized
• Two officers/shift
• Three shifts/day
• Total of 48 hours of coverage that must be paid
  in overtime

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Continued

• Emergency Situations
• If an emergency plan is put into effect, all
  supervisors are put on 12 hour shifts
• All is overtime

• Sick Leave
• If an officer calls in sick, their position must
  be filled immediately
• Usually filled with overtime pay

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Continued

• Workers Compensation
• To fill positions of employees out on workers
  comp., overtime is used
• There are no other resources of employees or

• Reserve Duty
• Military Reserve units are authorized to take 15
  days of paid military leave annually
• The Prison is responsible for filling their
  posts-overtime

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Continued

• Vacations
• Officers earn vacation time and must be allowed
  to take advantage of it
• When on vacation, their positions must be filled
  using overtime

• Training Programs
• Personnel must be brought in for training on
  their days off, which, of course, results in
  overtime

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MORE FROM GOODHEART

• These problems have gone before the county
  commissioners for the past 9 years
• The Prison has nothing to hide
• The Prison is open to any suggestions that Dexter
  may provide
• Goodhearts suggestion
• Consider funding a comprehensive study of the
  staffing needs ( need of overtime) by a group
  specializing in the field of corrections

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REACTION

• Dexter was angry frustrated
• He responded by dictating a memo on April 7 where
  he stated that he cant do his job without
  Goodhearts co-operation
• If I had any good ideas on how you could run
  your operation more efficiently or economically,
  you can be sure Id offer them. But as I see it,
  thats your job, not mine.

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In the Mean Time

• Strickland and Kirby began to discuss the
  problems of the prison overtime and the way
  Dexter was handling it.
• They had a history of open communication
• Neither worried about blurring the lines of
  policy and administration

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THE PROBLEM

• The Prison Board, not the County Commission, was
  responsible for approving all prison
• It was likely that the Prison Board would sue the
  county commissioners
• The county commissioners were threatening public
  safety by not allowing the use of this overtime
• If this happened, the cost containment program
  would be stopped in its tracks

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WHAT IS NEEDED?

• An objective view of prison overtime usage
• Recommendations that would reduce overtime
  expenses
• Appraisal of the current budgetary allocations
  for prison overtime

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SOLUTIONS

• Exempt the Prison from the cost containment
  program
• Fund an in-depth study of the prison by a
  nationally recognized group specializing in
  corrections

• Conduct an in-house study of the need for prison
  overtime
• Attempt to find an honest broker to conduct a
  study of prison overtime
• Invite Strickland to undertake the overtime study
  with members of his staff

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TRULYS CHOICE

• Geraldine Eager would be the honest broker and
  head the team that would study the use of prison
  overtime

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AFTERMATH

• Finley agreed to present the idea to the Prison
  Board
• The Board agreed on the condition that a member
  of the court administrative staff be on the study
  team

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OUTCOME

• The team found that a reasonable overtime budget
  was well within the finance departments
  allocation of 319,000
• Range--294,200-348,600
• Requested--434,400
• Allocated--319,000

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Continued

• A Correctional Officer Pool was formed
• 20 more officers than were allowed in the budget
  would be trained and placed in a pool
• Permanent appointments would be made as vacancies
  occurred
• The officers in the pool would be on-call to
  cover overtime assignments but on a straight-time
  rate

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IN THE END

• The Prison Board accepted all of the suggestions
  from the study and they were immediately
  implemented

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The End
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Questions

• Do you think there would have been a difference
  in the outcome if the County Commission had been
  in charge of the Prison expenditures instead of
  the Prison Board?
• How did the public effect the budget-making
  process in this case?