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Chatham County Commissioners boost mental-health staffing for jail

Savannah Morning News - 10/14/2019

An additional four employees will assist the Chatham County Detention Center with addressing inmates' mental-health issues after the County Board of Commissioners voted to increase staffing levels in this capacity at their regular meeting on Friday.

The four new employees are being added through two separate actions taken by the board during their Oct. 11 meeting. One full-time position is being created with the support of a federally funded grant, while another three mental-health specialists will be hired on an hourly basis through the amendment of an existing contract for inmate medical services.

During the previous county-commissioner meeting on Sept. 27, the board unanimously approved the acceptance of a $399,998 "Breaking the Cycle" grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, aiming to reduce the recidivism rate for adult offenders through strategies focused on individuals with mental illnesses. At Friday's meeting, the board voted unanimously to use these funds to create a full-time project-coordinator position to oversee this program in Chatham County.

After the vote, Board Chairman Al Scott pointed out that this position will only be filled while the grant period is in effect, which lasts through Sept. 30, 2021.

"If this grant money goes away, so will this position," Scott said.

The proposal to add another three mental-health specialists at the Chatham County Detention Center was created in response to recommendations from the RJS inmate health-care monitoring service contracted through the Chatham County Attorney's office, according to the agenda packet. The recommendations called for replacing licensed practical nurses with registered nurses and adding three additional mental health positions.

At Friday's meeting, the board considered an action item to implement the RJS recommendations at a cost of up to $440,000 annually, which would be realized by amending an existing inmate health-care contract with CorrectHealth Chatham LLC. The additional three employees would be utilized on an hourly basis, and if their services were not needed, the county would be credited for unused work hours on a quarterly basis, according to County Manager Lee Smith.

During discussion about this amendment, District 6 Commissioner James "Jay" Jones expressed support for the extra staffing.

"This is very important, and it's not just a localized problem ... it's a national problem," Jones said about the issue of jails suffering from inadequate mental-health staffing. Jones noted that County Sheriff John Wilcher supported the proposal, which made him feel confident about voting for it. "We're, I guess, ahead of the game when it comes to this."

The board voted unanimously to pass the extra-staffing amendment.

Also during Friday's meeting, Smith provided an update about an ongoing issue regarding a proposal to store storm debris at a county-owned plot on Bush Road, which had drawn complaints from area residents concerned about this becoming a landfill site.

Responding to these complaints, Smith recommended rescinding any attempt to establish the Bush Road site as a permanent landfill and advocated only using the location for temporary placement of storm debris before disposing of it elsewhere.

"Things will then be brought there and then leave. They're not stored there as a landfill," Smith said. "We are already underway in looking for another site in the west side of the county and on the east side of the county, particularly in the east because that's where the bulk of our tree canopy is."

Other County Commission actions taken at Friday's meeting included:

--Unanimously voting to accept a non-matching $200,000 grant to purchase supplies and equipment for Chatham County's newly established SWAT Unit, provided by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency with Department of Homeland Security support;

--Unanimously voting to accept a $6,000 non-matching Georgia Emergency Management Agency grant to supplement veterinary care for the Sheriff's Office K-9 unit, along with purchasing food and supplies for the explosives-trained police dogs;

--Unanimously voting to approve a $39,430 funding increase to update a traffic study for the Quacco Road improvement project, and;

--Unanimously voting to accept a $22,000 Coastal Incentive Grant to develop and implement a stormwater "adopt-a-drain" volunteer program.

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