Published: July 21, 2009 10:07 pm      

Detention center may be built

WAURIKA — Representatives from three county entities combined their meetings at Jefferson County Courthouse on July 13 to discuss turning a failure of the past into a possible future success.

After nearly two hours of revisiting history, addressing a variety of concerns, exchanging information and receiving reassurances, the Jefferson County commissioners and Count Excise Board agreed to continue to assist the Jefferson County Economic Development Authority.

JCEDA has proposed creating a detention center in what is commonly referred to as the “old INS building” at 102 W. C Street.

The three-entity meeting, at which most of the county’s elected officials were also present, was scheduled to examine JCEDA’s proposal, because the INS detention center and JCEDA have something of a dubious history dating back to the late 1990s and early 21st century.

Although the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service facility was a profitable venture at the outset, in 2005 it was abruptly closed by the INS, and the building on West C owned by Gary Gerken and Fred Richardson has since been unoccupied.

Early on, the INS detention center was a thriving business. But over time, the administration changed and there were reports of prisoner abuse at the facility and of financial mismanagement within the center and JCEDA, which served as the trust authority.

Several involved in the meeting noted stories of employees spending lavishly and of “shredding parties,” during which most of the key documents pertaining to the facility were destroyed.

There are at least two law suits pending in connection to the defunct INS center and, eventually, the JCEDA board was dissolved. However, JCEDA remained solvent as the trust authority.

Earlier this year, Gerken, Richardson and businessman Jerry Wallace approached the commissioners with a proposal to start a new detention facility in the old INS building. The commissioners approved a new JCEDA board, with Wallace, Don Allen and Frank Day named members.

Gerken, Richardson and the three JCEDA board members met with the commissioners and two of the three members of the Jefferson County Excise Board “to get some questions answered and make sure we’re all on the same page with this thing,” said Commission Chair Billy Kidd.

The commissioners and excise board members Kenny Smith and Jim Howard said they have received negative feedback from some citizens in regard to the county re-establishing a partnership with JCEDA.

“There’s a lot of people gun-shy about this,” Howard noted, and other county officers present also expressed such concerns.

Agreeing there were past problems at the INS facility and within the previous JCEDA administration, Wallace said in the final years of the venture “nobody was doing their job right.” He said JCEDA, the facility’s administration and the county commissioners at that time had fallen short in maintaining a system of checks and balances.

“But we know what it takes to make it done right,” Wallace said, referring to the current JCEDA board. “If everybody does their job right, then we’ll be able to make (a new detention center) work.

“There’s an oversight system throughout this. It just needs to be acted upon.”

During the free-flowing discussion, topics included what type of prisoners would be housed at a new facility, with Allen saying the early focus would be on acquiring federal prisoners as opposed to prisoners from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

The funding process, liability concerns and what role County Sheriff Michael Bryant would play were also among the topics. Much of the exchange was informational or dealt with factors that couldn’t be finalized during the meeting or would be better addressed in the future.

Ultimately, there were two actions taken by the commissioners, one of which dealt with the composition of the JCEDA board.

Since approving a three-person board earlier in the year, the commissioners have had second thoughts, and they asked the JCEDA representatives about the possibility of expanding the board.

Wallace, Allen and Day agreed to add new board members if the commissioners insisted that was necessary. However, they felt it would be difficult to find others who were as passionate about completing the project as the current board.

“We’re dedicated to seeing (a new detention center) is run correctly, and I know I’m dedicated to doing the right things, the right way,” Day said. “This can be a future [economic] benefit to the county and to the town of Waurika, and putting more people on the board would slow us down, unless they were as dedicated as we are.”

Commissioners Ty Phillips and Loyd Kimbro said it would be difficult to find people from their districts who would be interested in joining the JCEDA board, and Smith and Howard acknowledged they had no desire to appoint new board members.

Ultimately, the commissioners agreed an expanded JCEDA board was unnecessary, and they voted unanimously to make no change in the three-person structure.

Kidd also told JCEDA board members that some citizens were questioning whether REAP funds provided by the Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments (ASCOG) should be used by JCEDA.

The commissioners will soon apply for REAP grants. They initially agreed to obtain up to $90,000 in grant funds that would go to JCEDA, which is planning to spend up to $500,000 to renovate the old INS facility and bring it up to state and federal standards.

However, the roof of the fair building at Jefferson County Fairgrounds was damaged during a storm this spring, and Kidd said some citizens have wondered if the REAP funds would be better spent repairing that building.

After more discussion, the commissioners agreed to continue preparing the application to obtain REAP funds that would be used in the JCEDA project.