Meeting still on despite CCA’s reluctance
BROOKSVILLE –
County Commissioner Rose Rocco said there will be no backdoor meetings with the operators of the Hernando County Jail.
Everything pertaining to Corrections Corporation of America’s (CCA) contract renewal will be in the public eye, she said Thursday.
Rocco and her colleagues called an emergency meeting for Tuesday morning to meet with CCA officials to discuss the company’s contract. The board did so after Commissioner Jeff Stabins said he had already met privately with CCA officials and said they seemed amenable to cutting their contract costs by $510,000 if the county would agree to a three-year renewal clause.
CCA’s contract expires in 2010 and there has been talk from the county administrator’s office about putting it out for bid. CCA has operated the jail for 20 years.
Stabins, who is looking for other ways to cut a $10 million budget deficit rather than laying off employees, is pinning his hopes that CCA will live up to that commitment.
Commissioners on Tuesday were reluctant to wait another week before firming up the budget but agreed to meet with CCA this Tuesday to see if Stabins’ “handshake” deal will materialize.
However, a CCA spokesman said Thursday the company would rather meet privately with all five county commissioners about its contract.
Rocco said that is not an option.
CCA will be at Tuesday’s public meeting if company officials know what is good for them, she said.
“They’ve got a contract they can lose,” Rocco said Thursday.
Commissioner David Russell expects CCA to show up Tuesday.
“It’s in everyone’s best interests to get together and get their stories straight,” said Russell.
Steve Owen, spokesman with Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA, said he would not elaborate on anything Stabins may have discussed privately with the operator.
“We can’t commit to anything,” he said. “(But) we’re open to all ideas.”
Owen said CCA representatives will be at Tuesday’s meeting. However, the company’s preference is to continue to work privately with the county administrator’s office and individual commissioners to work out any concerns and establish priorities.
Meanwhile, Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings fired off an e-mail Wednesday to all county commissioners to stick with its plan to meet publicly Tuesday and avoid private meetings with CCA.
Jennings said staff had requested a written contract proposal from CCA back on July 20 and, as of today, had not received a response.
“We believe it is critical that we have in hand a detailed written proposal before any additional discussions occur between county representatives and CCA,” Jennings said.
Staff again requested such a proposal from CCA on Tuesday night and are waiting for a response, Jennings wrote in the e-mail.
Despite Jennings’ e-mail, Stabins did meet privately again with CCA representatives on Wednesday.
Asked about that, Russell said, “That’s completely Stabins’ call.”
Stabins said he wanted to try again to get a firmer commitment in writing from CCA. Unfortunately, he couldn’t, he said.
Stabins said he chose to ignore Jennings’ advice not to meet separately with CCA because he is intent on cutting the 2010 budget.
“Larry works for us,” Stabins said. “Sometimes I agree with staff and sometimes I don’t.”
Stabins’ private meeting with CCA also caught the attention of Assistant State Attorney Mark Simpson, who questioned the county attorney’s office about whether it is proper for a county commissioner to meet privately with the company.
In an e-mail, Jouben explained to him the board would not meet as a collegial body with CCA outside of an advertised public meeting.
“Simpson then said that since the negotiation of a contract was a quasi-legislative function of the (board), Commissioner Stabins did not, in his opinion, violate either the Sunshine Law or the Florida Code of Ethics by meeting with representatives of CCA,” Jouben said.
Simpson said such individual meetings were fine as long as CCA’s representatives did not act as conduits for communications between individual commissioners.
County commissioners will discuss CCA’s contract at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in downtown Brooksville.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or [email protected].
