Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for discussion and possible action regarding recommendations by the Jail and Community Safety Infrastructure Governance Advisory Committee for maintenance upgrades to the County’s jail facilities.
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Background and Discussion:
On March 26, 2024, Commissioners Court approved the creation of a Jail and Community Safety Infrastructure Governance Advisory Committee (JGAC) and a Resident Advisory Committee (RAC) to focus on the jail facilities and foster community engagement and transparency in the planning and implementation process. Infrastructure delivery will be headed by the Office of the County Engineer as the subject matter expert for facilities projects that are considered and approved by Commissioners Court.
This update and request for action is related to the first deliverables due from the JGAC - a project plan for the immediate priority needs for the jail.
The list of priority needs was compiled by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Harris County Engineering Department (see attachment). The list of projects represents the most immediate needs of the jail, including safety and security measures and deferred maintenance and totals $122 million. A companion item is a Final Investment Memo that identifies the fund source(s) and cash flow requirements. Please note that an additional request will be coming back to Commissioners Court in July for IT infrastructure requirements that were not included in the original $122 million project budget. Universal Services is working with the Sheriff’s Office and Engineering to develop a project budget for these network and other IT infrastructure costs.
Failure to address these items could result in continued maintenance and operational issues and/or system failures at the existing facilities. It is imperative that these items are addressed now regardless of any future planned new facilities.
The JGAC reviewed these items and agrees with the need to begin this work expeditiously. With a large number of inmates currently sent out of county, the jail has been able to consolidate supervised populations to completely empty the 7th floor of 701 North San Jacinto. This allows renovations to occur with crews able to freely navigate the floor and eliminates the need for Detention Officers to escort workers throughout the construction zone. Additionally, it minimizes security issues associated with tools, materials, and movement in populated housing areas.
The RAC also voted in support of completing the deferred maintenance and priority items listed in the table below. Details regarding the vote are discussed in back up related to this item attached.
The Governance Advisory Committee will deliver the following:
• phase one of a jail population profile by June 25, 2024
• a prioritized list of mid-term and long-term needs and proposed recommendations by the end of calendar year 2024
Please note that the Governance Advisory Committee will work closely with the CJCC to ensure that improvements to the criminal justice system as a whole (including operations) will also be addressed. The primary focus of the Governance Advisory Committee is to make recommendations that improve jail facilities for the safety and security of people incarcerated in and staff working in the jail facilities. It is also critically important that the County and partner agencies and organizations improve the law enforcement and prosecutorial systems through which people enter the jail and the judicial and defense systems that govern how long those people remain in jail pre-adjudication.
Expected Impact:
This project being approved and funded will lower the risk of systems failures in the County’s existing jail facilities. Failures of fire safety, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and security systems can result in injury to or death of inmates and workers in the jail. In addition, such system failures would result in higher cost emergency repairs and noncompliance with state jail standards.
Alternative Options: Not planning for jail facilities improvements will result in continued maintenance and operational issues at the existing facilities and higher costs to the County taxpayer.
Alignment with Goal(s):
x Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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05/07/2024 |
26 |
Approved as presented |
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4/23/2024 |
32 |
No Action taken |
|
3/26/2024 |
30 File ID 24-1361 |
Approved as presented |
Location:
Address (if applicable): N/A
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
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Anticipated Court Date: June 4, 2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date):
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Tonya Mills, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): Jail and Community Safety Infrastructure Governance Committee
Commissioner’s Court June Update