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Commissioners authorize staff to negotiate sole‑source needs‑assessment contract as task force recommendations near rollout
Summary
County commissioners authorized staff to negotiate and potentially execute a sole‑source contract with a nationally experienced consultant to review prior jail needs assessments and produce options; staff said they are seeking MacArthur Foundation support but may fund the work from county fund balance if needed and will also proceed with an Essential Public Facility (EPF) process using SCJ.
Spokane County commissioners on May 5 discussed contracting with an outside consultant to update and synthesize prior needs assessments for the county’s justice facility and to model a set of options and cost ranges in anticipation of potential bond measures.
A commissioner said the county wants a firm with prior experience to "review all of our past iterations, all the assumptions, all the evaluations done by the various consultants" and to produce a simulated model laying out the status quo and future needs, including potential bed counts and cost ranges. The consultant named in the briefing transcript (transcribed as "Carter Goboli") was described as a nationally known firm with prior work for the county; staff recommended sole‑source authority for negotiation because the firm has specific background on earlier assessments.
Commissioners asked whether the work would include operational considerations and whether the board would be briefed before any public rollout of task‑force recommendations. Staff said the expected timeline for the consultant work is three to four months and that the scope would incorporate recommendations from the Safe and Healthy Task Force. Staff also told the board they had asked the MacArthur Foundation to fund the study and that, if that support did not come through, the county would need to cover the cost from fund balance or another funding source.
The board also discussed moving forward with an Essential Public Facility (EPF) sign/process and staff said they had identified SCJ as the preferred consultant to support the EPF work, noting an application fee of about $1,800 and that the EPF process can take roughly 180 days. Staff said they will return with contract language and funding‑source details for board review.
No final board vote on project funding was recorded in the morning briefing; staff said authorization to negotiate and execute the contract would appear on the afternoon legislative agenda.
