Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sheriff reports new food and medical contracts, jail population and staffing challenges
Summary
The sheriff updated the commission that Kellwells will sign the jail food contract and Southern Health will provide medical services; he reported an average daily jail population of 95, listed recent incident metrics, and discussed staffing and contract cost changes.
The sheriff told the Geary County Commission that the county is moving forward with new vendors for jail food and medical services and that staff will sign the food contract in person later the same day.
"It's not official official, but it looks like it's gonna be official once, Kellwell's gonna be here today. The Kellwell's are gonna be our food contract. They come today at 2. They're gonna sign it," the sheriff said.
The sheriff said the county has agreed to move forward with Southern Health for medical services and that the food contract with Kellwells will come in a few thousand dollars under the current contract. He said kitchen staff currently employed by the jail will remain in place and will receive raises. The sheriff described the pool purchase (a $30,000 pool) as a procurement move intended to secure more favorable pricing.
On operations, the sheriff said the jail averaged a daily population of about 95 over the two-week reporting period, with three prisoner transports, 127 traffic stops, 31 citations, 4 DUIs, 4 battery assaults, 31 arrests and a total of 387 incidents recorded in that window. He said the county negotiated a food contract that he expects to be cheaper for 2026 compared with 2025 and that medical-provider arrangements have been signed off by county staff.
The sheriff also discussed staffing pressures and said he was working to get positions back to cover shifts; commissioners acknowledged the difficulty of staffing public-safety positions and discussed trying to make budget space where possible.
No formal commission vote on the contracts was recorded in the transcript; the sheriff said the food contract would be finalized with an in-person signing later in the day.
