At the Commissioners' Court budget workshop meeting on August 21, 2013, Kaufman County Commissioner Jimmy Vrazlik defended his position on the jail privatization talks that were halted by Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes on August 16, 2013.
The commissioners previously approved a Request for Proposal (RFP) from private companies to take over the day-to-day operation of the county jail. The initial RFP included an employee protection clause. However, the protection clause was subsequently removed from the RFP and once again passed by the Commissioners' Court unanimously, according to Sheriff Byrnes.
Commissioner Vrazlik argued during the Commissioners' Court budget workshop the RFP was amended to allow bids both with and without the employee protections. It would later be the sheriff's “prerogative,” said Vrazlik, to consider only the bids with employee guarantees.
According to Kaufman County Purchasing Agent Jack Sebastian, the bid process was canceled because of the written notice by Sheriff Byrnes halting the negotiations, in accordance with Section 351.102 of the Texas Local Government Code (LGC).
In an attempt to move forward with the bid process, Commissioner Vrazlik read from Section 351.102 of the LGC during the budget workshop, “the county must receive the written approval of the sheriff of the county, which should not be unreasonably withheld.”
“I guess the definition of unreasonable is what you're focusing on here,” said Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood. Vrazlik responded, “yes, it is.”
“I think we need a ruling from the attorney general's office, in my opinion, because of the way this is written in this government code,” said Vrazlik.
“Let's be clear, this was not an addendum, it was a deletion of the protection of the employees,” said Sheriff Byrnes. “I will not do it short of a court order.”
Commissioner Vrazlik then provided a six page handout to the commissioners, that was not discussed during the meeting, outlining potential savings with the privatization of the county jail and also savings that can be made if the Kaufman County Sheriff's budget was in line with the Hunt County Sheriff's budget.
According to the handout, in Johnson County a private company manages their jail for $44 a day per inmate and also receives an additional $5 per day for each federal inmate they house. The company managing the Johnson County jail is one of three companies interested in placing a bid with Kaufman County. If those privatization numbers were applied in Kaufman County, according to the handout provided by Vrazlik, the county could potentially save $2,123,010 with housing federal inmates.
Commissioner Vrazlik took it one step further suggesting that the sheriff's budget could be further reduced by approximately $2,130,017 by matching the number of deputies and supervisors to the Hunt County Sheriff's department. According to the handout, total savings with privatization and budget adjustments is $4,253,047.
Kaufman County is approximately 807 square miles and has a population of approximately 105,358. Hunt County is approximately 882 square miles with a population of approximately 86,531.