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Prison board approves lower commissary commission, promotes six officers; hiring of new warden tabled
Summary
At a May meeting, the Lackawanna County Prison Board approved an amendment reducing the commissary vendor's commission rate and approved six part-time corrections officers for full-time status. The board tabled action on hiring a new warden and moved into executive session for personnel matters.
The Lackawanna County Prison Board on May (meeting month) approved an amendment to the county's commissary contract that lowers the commission Keefe Commissary Network LLC pays to the inmate canteen account, and approved promotions moving six part-time corrections officers to full-time status. The board also tabled action on hiring a new warden and entered executive session for personnel matters.
Board members approved an amendment to the contract with Keefe Commissary Network LLC that lowers the commission paid to the inmate canteen account from roughly 33.1% to 26%. Colleen Arzell, deputy warden, told the board the change is necessary because Keefe will no longer provide secure payment services; that accounting service is being handled by another vendor, ViaPath. "The amendment was proposed. It's going to lower the commission rate paid by Keefe to the inmate canteen account from 33% to 26%," Arzell said during the discussion.
Arzell explained that the original contract award bundled commissary sales and accounting services; removing the accounting component required adjusting the commission to maintain current commissary prices for inmates. The board voted in favor; the record shows the motion carried on an "ayes have it" voice vote.
The board also approved promotions of six named employees from part time to full time corrections officer status, effective May 28. The six individuals listed by staff were Joseph Smith, Shaquana Jordan, Vincent Palucci, Zachary Beyer, Jason Heiss and David Morgan. When asked whether the promotions were to be effective May 28, Arzell said, "Yes. It would be effective, May 28." The motion to promote the six employees carried on a voice vote recorded as "ayes." No roll-call vote with individual member positions was recorded in the transcript.
A separate agenda item to hire a new warden was presented but the board voted to table further action on that hire. The board then moved into an executive session to discuss personnel matters raised by staff; the public was asked to step outside while the board met in private.
Votes and formal actions taken at the meeting included approval of minutes and payables earlier in the session, the contract amendment with Keefe Commissary Network LLC, the six promotions, and tabling the warden hire. The record does not include recorded individual vote tallies or the names of movers and seconders for each motion.
The amendment to the commissary contract is intended to take effect per the county's contracting procedures; the board did not record further implementation dates on the public record during this session. Personnel decisions recorded for the six promotions include the effective date but no additional hiring paperwork details were read into the record.
The board recessed into executive session after the public-business votes; no details of the executive session deliberations were disclosed when the meeting resumed.
Next formal public action expected in future meetings includes any administrative steps to finalize the commissary amendment and any follow-up on the new warden search, which the board left tabled.
