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Regular-Law & Justice Services # 28.
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| Board of Supervisors |
Probation |
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| Subject |
| Approve termination of the Yolo County Office of Refugee and Resettlement Grant Program and contract, while retaining staffing and operations support for up to 15 Yolo County Superior Court detained minors and direct county staff to maintain, or implement, budgetary and programmatic changes resulting from this action with the intent that any program changes be implemented by the end of the current fiscal year or early in 2018-2019. (General fund impact $534,000) (Cardall/Fruchtenicht) |
| Recommended Action |
- Approve termination of the Yolo County Office of Refugee and Resettlement Grant Program and contract, while retaining staffing and operations support for up to 15 Yolo County Superior Court detained minors; and
- Direct county staff to maintain, or implement, budgetary and programmatic changes resulting from this action with the intent that any program changes be implemented by the end of the current fiscal year or early in Fiscal Year 2018/2019.
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| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
Operational Excellence
Thriving Residents
Safe Communities |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
Background
In 2008, Yolo County entered into an agreement with the Office of Administration for Children and Families to provide bed space for, what is now, up to 24 youth who meet Office of Refugee and Resettlement secure placement criteria. Yolo County has partnered with ORR for nearly a decade, and when this program was up for renewal, the Probation Department applied for and was re-awarded a new contract in February of 2017. The new grant awarded Yolo County $2,944,589 for the first year of three; the remaining two years include funding in the amount of almost $3 million per year, for a total of approximately $9 million for the duration of the agreement.
The ORR program has now entered into the second of three years under the new agreement. After much review and evaluation related to administering this program, the Chief Probation Officer, Brent Cardall, has found that it would be in the best interest of the County to terminate this federal contract and end the program. Termination is recommended as soon as administratively feasible. If this recommendation is approved, arrangements with the federal government will be made to move the youth from the Juvenile Detention Facility, and the required staff reduction protocol will be followed.
Reason for Recommended Action
The ORR program currently funds 23 positions with ORR funds, and ending this program would result in layoffs of civil and sworn positions at the Probation Department. Therefore, this recommendation is not made lightly and is based on the following factors:
- Often, ORR youth placed in Yolo County have been subject to significant trauma, community violence and marginalization before they come here. They exhibit a high rate of challenging behaviors, increased mental illness, and at times, physical aggression that has resulted in staff injuries from assaults by ORR youth. In order to address these serious behaviors increased staffing would be needed. Over the 2016 and 2017 years, our data has shown that ORR youth are three times more likely to assault staff than non-ORR youth.
- Institutions in general experience issues with overtime and excessive sick time usage. Currently, there is a significant amount of leave time used which contributes to staffing shortages and overtime.
- Undocumented Children placed in the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility (JDF) through the ORR program, who commit crimes while at the JDF can be criminally charged. This creates the potential for the youth to fall under the jurisdiction of local probation supervision, and creates placement issues and unfunded costs for the county.
- Recent events related to ORR issues (since early 2017) have required substantial County Counsel involvement; this results in an opportunity cost in addressing other county business given the limited resources of that office.
- Having the ORR contract subjects the county to meet federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) staffing requirements above the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) standards, and comes with significant documentation requirements for the federal government.
- Evolving legislation may impact Yolo County if this contract continues. New laws such as Senate Bill 54, the Sanctuary State law, or Senate Bill 29 (2017) prohibiting localities in California from entering into, or expanding immigration housing contracts with the federal government, are recent examples of this. Although, currently, neither of these directly apply to this specific contract, the spirit of new legislation indicates a state-wide movement to separate local government from federal immigration issues.
Upon the termination of this contract, it is the Chief Probation Officer's intent to adjust resources and programming that will allow a focus on the Yolo County youth. |
| Collaborations (including Board advisory groups and external partner agencies) |
County Counsel
Human Resources |
| Competitive Bid Process |
| N/A |
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Source of Funds for this Expenditure |
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Explanation (Expenditure and/or Revenue) |
| Further explanation as needed: |
Discontinuing this contract would require the elimination of staff positions and the relinquishment almost $3,000,000 per fiscal year back to the federal government. This, however, would leave an unfunded gap of just over $534,000 to maintain staffing levels of security staff, at a level that the Chief Probation Officer would consider safe for housing and managing up to 15 youth. The current scenario for this model would require the elimination of 17 staff positions.
Elimination of this contract would also require additional, unbudgeted, local or grant resources to sustain operations for a 15 bed facility into the new fiscal year. |
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