THE GUARDIAN filed a public records requests last week in two areas of interest. First was the cost of legal fees for the Bujak case and the second was regarding a NO BID contract issued to a food service company for preparation of jail and juvenile meals served in the jail and juvenile detention facility.
The costs for Mr. Bujak's legal fees to date with the county come to just under $101,000.00! One invoice listed $17,488.00 and the second invoice came in at $83,280.00. It may turn out the Canyon County Commishes will end up losing the Tort case filed by Mr. Bujak come January of 2012 and there will be a lot more zeros added to they cost of this messy business with Mr. Bujak. Let's hope some kind of settlement is reached before the case goes to trial. Right now Bujak has not been charged with a crime nor has his license to practice law in Idaho been suspended. Under Idaho Law the County Prosecutor is one of the few elected officials who can make a profit while serving as a public official.
The second issue we did some research into was the NO BID Food Service Contract. No RFQ/RFP
was used to determine who was best suited to fill the needs of the jail and juvenile detention meals and commissary program for inmates. We can all appreciate the efforts to lower to costs of keeping people in our jail and juvenile detention facilities but the use of a NO BID approach was determined to be legal by the County Prosecutors legal staff.
ABL Management Services will provide meals to the adult detention inmates at a rate of $3.3714 to $3.9879 per day based on inmate populations. The lower the numbers of inmates the higher to cost of meals per day (fixed costs etc here enter into play). The juvenile detention meals are a flat $4.50/day for each juvenile held in the South West Idaho Juvenile Detention Facility.
I was reading that all these food service costs were cut because they fired all the jail cooks and contracted with a company who paid their cooks less and did not provide all the extra goodies at taxpayer expense like retirement and medical benefits. If they can do that why not replace the guards with private security as well. Why does it have to be a deputy? If the prisons can do it why not the jails too? I see no reason to pay this unskilled labor force more than the prisons pay. Time to stop the wasteful spending of our sherriff.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, the jail is top heavy on administrative people who really do very little over the course of any given day.
ReplyDeleteA jail is an environment unlike a prison. There is no green grass, very little fresh air, and very little sunshine. It is a detention place for people going to court or who have sentences of generally less than one year to serve in the county jail. Lastly, the Sheriff is first and foremost a "servant of the court" and in that capacity he is charged with keeping the jail a safe, secure and sanitary facility. Handing the obligation off to a third party with limited liability is not wise.
Way to go Commissioners! Fight until the end on the Bujak case. He is a criminal and deserves to be put behind bars. The public is behind you 100%. He may have had a valid contract with Nampa, but bottom line is that he used County resourses and didn't pay for them...that is a crime!
ReplyDeleteA jail shouldn't be a country club
ReplyDeleteNote: I edited name of a private citizen out ..Paul
ReplyDeleteeep doing your research Paul. Bujak isn't going to be able to continue with his Tort claim in January. The man is a master manipulator and it will catch up to him. Do some research into his mistress, CS, and you will be able to connect the dots and see where all the money went.
By Anonymous on Bujak Legal Costs to County $101K And No Bid Contr... on 9/8/11
Does this mean bologna sandwiches like Sheriff Joe hands out? No, I don't think so. On the other hand these guys are getting 3-square-a-day and will sue if they don't. Never-mind they don't eat the same on the outside.
ReplyDeleteBologna sandwiches and ramen noodles are a concept you could try Sheriff Chris if the ones you coddle so well (inmates) don't like it then do as Sheriff Joe says: "Don't break the Law."
Enough is Enough already after all a 1930's soup kitchen was good enough for parents and grandparents (who were thankful to get something to eat BTW) and MRE's are good enough for our "volunteer" enlisted troops the same should apply to our correctional facilities for adults and juveniles. Just Saying.
Spend a day in jail and see if your coddled,
ReplyDeletethen speak. Otherwise you are speaking from inexperience. You know what they say about people who don't know what they are talking about but put their two cents in all the time. Just saying.
Meals ready to eat come in cases of 12 each. According to the current price list from the DSCP (Defense Supply Center Philadelphia), the 2011 cost of a box of MREs is $86.74.
ReplyDeleteThat puts cost per meal at $7.22 each MRE.
Prior to subcontracting the kitchen operations out to ABL, t5he sheriff was kicking out meals to inmates between .75 - .85 cents a meal on average. The reason for subcontracting out to ABL is the promise they can do it cheaper.
Now MRE's may be "good enough for the troops" as you put it, and you may have the impression because they don't eat MRE's they are being coddled. I would much rather coddle them at a cost of .75 cents a meal than $7.22 a meal. Your zeal for punishing prisoners is clouding your financial judgment.
Remember this is a jail we are talking about and not a prison and not all the people in jail are found guilty yet. I'm not too comfortable doling out punishments and harshness to folks who may be innocent.
I keep waiting for Mr. Bujak to be charged with a crime. Either he is guilty of a crime or he isn't and so far he has not been charged with anything, he continues to practice law in Idaho and the day of reckoning on his tort claim against the county is not all that far off.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear to me it is in the best interests of Canyon County to make this all go away quietly and the Bujak's fight it out with one another in divorce court.