County reps vote today: Martin Hall likely will remain open

Martin Hall, the juvenile detention facility in Medical Lake to which Whitman County sends its underage offenders, will likely stay open.

Commissioner Pat O’Neill said Monday he intends to vote to keep the center open at the meeting of the nine county board of directors today, Thursday.

“This is the right thing to do. I know in my heart that if we closed Martin Hall, it would never open again,” said O’Neill

The nine counties that house their juvenile offenders at Martin Hall were considering closing the facility because the number of youths being housed there has not been enough to cover operating costs.

O’Neill said all nine counties would have to vote unanimously to close Martin Hall. He added he expects a split vote today.

Martin Hall has been housing about 19 juvenile offenders a day. To recover operating costs, the facility needs about 25.

Whitman, Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties formed the Martin Hall consortium in 1995. Each county issued bonds to renovate a former residence hall at Lakeland Village into the detention facility. Whitman County will pay off those bonds in 2016.

The consortium contracts with Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, a private company based in Helena, Mont.

“The idea and the concept has served Whitman County very well in getting a high quality of care and treatment for our juveniles,” said O’Neill.

With revenues declining, said O’Neill, many are seeking sentencing alternatives, such as electronic home monitoring.

He said CCCS has offered to drop the rate the county pays next year from $175 per bed day to $165 per bed day. That, said O’Neill, would save the county about $60,000. Whitman County’s contract requires the county pay for 2.5 beds per day, whether they are used or not.

“You’d be amazed at how close to that our actual numbers are every year,” said O’Neill.

The firm is also transporting juveniles to and from the center instead of having county employees drive them back and forth. That will save all the counties about $100,000 a year, said O’Neill.

“They went out of their way to make it affordable for us,” said O’Neill.

He expects CCCS will absorb its revenue cuts with earnings from other operations.

“In Montana and North Dakota their juvenile population is booming,” said O’Neill.

Whitman County is in a tighter spot than other counties in the consortium.

Other counties could send their juveniles to other nearby facilities. There are other juvenile detention centers in Nez Perce, Spokane, Walla Walla and Benton counties.

Whitman County could not send its underage offenders to the Nez Perce facility in Lewiston because they can not be housed outside Washington state.

Nez Perce County commissioners considered shutting their county’s juvenile facility and transporting offenders to Martin Hall. The Nez Perce facility is facing a $495,000 operating shortfall, according to a Lewiston Tribune report Aug. 29.

O’Neill said Martin Hall officials have recruited Nez Perce County to boost the facility’s numbers.