Commissioners hear jail operations strain: vendor kitchen quits and competency backlog raises costs

During the budget review, the sheriff's office representative (S6) informed the board that the jail's kitchen vendor "ain't working out" and that vendors statewide are scarce; staff are preparing to operate the kitchen in-house and expect to assign three employees to cover meals rather than contract out.

The sheriff's office representative also highlighted a separate operational pressure: a backlog for court-ordered competency evaluations. "We have about 9 that are sitting in jail now that are taking up space, food, clothing, etcetera, that are waiting on competency hearings," the representative said, estimating waits can run to "18 months, 24 months" for evaluation slots at state facilities. Commissioners discussed how prolonged pre-trial detention for competency evaluations raises local housing and care costs and asked staff to quantify those expenses for the budget.

Board members asked whether the county can partner with local nutrition staff from the school system to help jail menus; staff described an MOU under discussion with the school nutritionist to align menus with institutional requirements. Commissioners asked for a cost-comparison of running the kitchen in-house versus re-contracting with an outside vendor and requested updated projections for meal-line expense in the proposed budget.