Big things are Moving Forward in Escambia County

There are several "big things" moving in the county right now.

Some are discussed openly and frequently--others are being worked by staff and will be presented once finalized.

But make no mistake--big things are moving.

Here are some examples.

OLF-8's RFQ is on the web site.  It is up, and we are getting interest in it from the development community.  Although it seems like it's been an agonizingly, excrutiatingly protracted process--it is coming together.  We had our Master Planning Process, we had COVID-19, and a number of staff changeovers which put this out longer than we had hoped.  But again--it's moving now.

The first 84 1/2 acres will be the start.  Stay tuned.

Jail Medical RFP is in the works.  A draft has been completed by staff after the board signaled it's willingness to look at outsourcing ---IF -AND ONLY IF-- it makes economic sense to do so.  The only way to know for sure is to put it out and see what comes back.  I know our Jail Medical costs have risen geometrically and so we shall soon see if the private sector can handle this vital and expensive function more efficiently and economically than the current system which is expensive and where a sizable portion of the workers are already staffed through outside agencies.  So we will see.

Beulah Master Plan.  I have asked that staff get this process going once again and re-solicit for this work.  We have Restore Act funding for the effort--however the last time we put it out for bid we did not have enough qualified respondents necessary to make the award.  So it will be put out again.

Public Safety Prioritization and Budgeting--We will sort-out ECFR's budget this week, EMS is moving forward with an aggressive growth strategy, and there is an effort underway to streamline the next three years' worth of funding for the sheriff's office--similarly to what we did in 2018 when I was last Chairman of the Board.  This 3-year deal is being worked and will benefit the county if it can be finalized.  I believe we are close, very close to getting an agreement that the full board and the ECSO can consider.

Affordable Housing- the board is working a unique strategy to source the materials and labor and build affordable housing on county owned property.  I think it is a great strategy and look forward to watching it happen.  I think we can do it less-expensively and more rapidly than working with an intermediary to get these houses built.  I look forward to watching this initiative take off.

Intelligent Outsourcing for pond maintenance and grass cutting-Administrator Wes Moreno found a creative solution to a daunting problem--no enough staff to adequately cut the county's growing number of storm ponds.  So he brought forward an initiative to outsource some of the work and to everyone's surprise the bids came back very well priced.  Now we are going to carve out smaller lots of work so that small businesses can also take on some of this work.  From the county staffing side--Wes has recommended strategic pay increases to attract more workers combined with the cutting of funded positions to add higher pay.  This is working, and I believe will be expanded county wide.

Beach Traffic Management/Improvement--My hat is off to staff and commissioner Bender for the work they have done to streamline traffic at the beach, provide more parking, and create a situation where a drive to the beach is no longer a 2-hour affair!  We are doing record numbers of vehicles through the toll booths which are now cashless---and traffic is flowing better than it ever has.  I am out at the beach a lot at all different times, and with the smart light synchronization, the "hot-right" down Fort Pickens Road, additional parking, and new traffic patterns at the Casino Beach lot--I think we have hit the practical, 95% solution for beach traffic.  

Fiscal Austerity--The administrator has a duty to bring us a balanced budget.  To that end and at the board's recent direction--the county will accelerate the task of permanently eliminating positions that have historically been "on the books" but that are never filled.  We have asked for up to 50% of the open positions be eliminated---which once done will free up more than $10 Million for this year's budget.

So, in summary, I simply say there are lots of big things happening.  And way more than what I've listed above--but that is the flavor of where we are headed.  With a re-constituted purchasing/procurment department, a reinvigorated administrative staff on the 4th floor, and with commissioners (the majority of whom) are willing to push through and forward with bold initiatives--keep watching as we continue to put millions of dollars to work in the community on drainage, bridges, roads, and sidewalks.  Watch as we bring creative solutions to some lingering problems.  There is a lot to watch--and I am bullish on the next few years in Escambia County.  Great things are coming--new libraries, fire stations, boat launches, public beach accesses, and new roads and sidewalks.  It's coming.

And Finally: to those, that miniscule minority number of folks, who only attack and spew garbage lies

Escambia Jail Deaths 2021

Sadly we had an inmate in our custody die a few weeks back.  It is being investigated and there have been stories in the media about this individual and her various medical issues.  As I said on the news, her death is a tragedy of immense proportion, and I join everyone else in wanting more information on what happend and what caused this death.

There are more details coming to light about what happened at the hospital before this individual was brought to the jail.  We will eventually get more detail and know with certainty what happened.

This was the 6th death at our jail in a year, a number which on its face seems shocking.  One individual with whom I spoke stated his belief that a recent study indicated that 90% of jails in the state have "0" deaths year over year.   I questioned this statement, I do not believe it.

So who was it that died this year, and how did they die?

In multiple conversations with our lawyer, I have been advised that there is very little that can be legally disseminated regarding individuals and their conditions and their casue(s) of death if such information is/was gleaned from a review of the patients' death certificate, due to state and federal patient privacy rules.  I respect and understand, so I will not divulge anything that is protected heatlh information and I have never seen any death certificates from any inmates in our custody.

But neither will I let a "narrative" build that our jails are death camps and our corrections officers are complicit in some sort of a negligent level of care which leads to death of inmates unnecessarily.

The media would have you belive that 25 year old triathletes are going to jail healthy and coming out on gurneys dead.  And they'd also have you believe there was nefarious conduct which led to such deaths and that oh, by the way, the deaths were all black citizens, not white.  That's what some folks would have you believe.  But it isn't true.

Here is the truth.

Of the 6 deaths of the thousands of individual inmates in our custody throughout 2021--four died at the hosptials where such individuals were sent for medical care---only two died "at" the jail.

4 were white inmates, 2 were black.

Ages were as follows:

68, 66, 64, 51, 38, and the last one was a 20 year old.

One died of a chronic medical condition, two died of complications from a virus, one of a sudden medical event, one from multiple issues related to treatment/refusal of treatment/treatment/refusal of treatment for a chronic, pre-existing condition, and the final one we are waiting to know about, the 20 year old.

Not one, so far as I've been told, suffered a beating or abuse by staff or other inmates leading to death.

Not one, so far as I've been told, was a result of our employees' failure to follow protocol and policy.

We have good, dedicated staff running our jail.  We have protocols and policies in place to keep inmates and employees safe.  Even still, it can be a dangerous place.  Look no further than the incident the other day where one of our officers was attacked and beaten viciously by an inmate.  It is a tough and sometimes dangerous job these men and women do working in our jail.

We have, at any given time, 1500 or more inmates in our care at the jail.  Many of whom have tremendous physical/medical issues and pre-existing conditions.  Many are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.  A high percentage of our prisoners have medical issues before they ever get to our jail and therefore we spend enormous sums providing care to these folks for which they have NEVER had care before.  We have a world-class infirmary and a dedicated medical staff in our jail.  We spend tremendous sums of taxpayer monies providing medical and dental services to our inmates.  This is the policy of this county, and what we as board members demand.We genuinely care about those folks that are incarcerated--our goal is ZERO inmate deaths while in our custody..

So if we as an organization have done something wrong--I'll be the first to say so and demand consequences.

But the other side of the story is, I won't stand for folks to be burned at the stake for doing their difficult jobs professionally in a really tough setting where most people would never want to work.

Folks who are truly interested in this topic should read this article.  It is loaded with stats collected from jails of all sizes nationwide and does a very good job of analyzing this topic with data and facts.

Outsourcing Jail Medical Function to Save Taxpayer Money AND Provide Better Inmate Care

Jail Medical costs are rising exponentially due to a number of factors.  The county should consider all models of provision of this care, including outsourcing, to curb costs and provide better care

County staff have been discussing the outsourcing of Jail Medical for the last several years---as these costs have grown exponentially.

At our last regular meeting--we had over $5,000,000.00 worth of jail medical budgeting that was being requested of us.  I pulled the item--as I knew we had been in talks with an outside provider to take the function over in order to achieve cost savings.

Several staffers received at least one proposal--however when asked about this at the meeting---there was a sudden sense of confusion and many staffers said that "no, they hadn't received the package and proposal."

So, I made a motion to pull the item, and the board voted to postpone the large medical expenditures--so we could all independently research what happened to the proposal from outside provider NaphCare.

(I never received the proposal either--although I was told it was sent to my office via FedEX.  I never got it, and ultimately had to borrow Commissioner Bender's copy)

Meanwhile---Jim Little from the PNJ called me yesterday afternoon and we discussed the reasons I moved to drop the expenditure and also why I think outsourcing could save us money and provide better care for inmates.  His column on this topic came out this morning and was a very good read.

The areas where it appears we can save the most money include:

--Reduced tranport to outside facilities--perhaps as much as 50% (saving guard staff time and vehicle wear and tear)

--Elimination of our costly Jail Med Malpractice insurance (Contractor would take on this cost)

--better overall care for inmates via proactive, initial assessments and flagging of inmates who are at risk

--staffing stabilization

--full utilization of our state of the art infirmary for more on site procedures (dialysis and other minor medical procedures for which we currently transport--costing us staff time and additional fees to dialysis providers)

--Savings via achieving a (much larger) economy of scale for pharmaceuticals

I plan on bringing the topic again at our October 14th meeting, at which point I will attempt to build support for the county developing an RFP for outsourcing jail medical.  At least this will allow for multiple companies to present their best offers and creative solutions.

At the end of the day--I am certain the board will choose wisely and will find an option that saves money and provides the care our inmates need.