Council approves deal to house inmates in other counties

Springfield City Council moved quickly Monday to approve deals with two counties on housing the city's inmates.

Almost a year after Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott essentially closed the county jail to people arrested on municipal warrants, council voted to use up to $500,000 in budget carryover funds on housing those offenders in Miller and Taney counties.

The three bills — to appropriate funds and to authorize two agreements — were all passed unanimously during the Monday council meeting.

The deal with Miller County would cost the city $38 per day, per inmate, and would include Miller County transporting inmates.

City Councilman Ken McClure pointed to that transportation feature as a key to getting a deal done.

"As we talked through this, that had been a concern — how to get prisoners transported and you've addressed that effectively," he said to the chief.

Chief Paul Williams said Miller County would only provided transportation during daytime hours on weekdays. He also said he likely wouldn't send his officers two hours away to transport a detainee, which is why the Taney County agreement is important.

The agreement with Taney County would be for $45 per day, per inmate, and would not include transportation. However, with the jail in Forsyth just 45 minutes away, it's a much easier trip for Springfield police, who would be pulled off patrol duty to transport inmates.

The Taney County agreement also includes a feature that the city would not be charged if an inmate was held for less than 24 hours.

When presenting the bills, Williams recapped the events since Arnott's policy change. The city sued Arnott and the county in July.

Williams said police have encountered more than 4,000 people, with a total of almost 6,000 municipal warrants, since the policy change. He said those people all had to be released. He said the lack of an option to sentence offenders to jail has been a burden to prosecutors and judges, who can't get offenders to show up for court dates.

Williams said he started looking into options with other counties in November, and now feels like he has two agreements that will serve as a good short-term solution.

Many council members praised the chief and other staff for finding that short-term solution.

"I feel a sense of relief," Councilman Craig Fishel said. "We will be able to lock people up now."

Councilman Craig Hosmer also commended the chief, but lamented that the city's portion of the 1997 law enforcement sales tax should be paying to house municipal offenders. That's essentially the key question of the pending lawsuit.

Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky said she wished the agreements had been reached sooner, but that she was pleased it was happening now.

Other business

City Council voted to table a bill that would amend laws regarding transportation network companies — a potential ordinance that was crafted with the interest of ride-sharing company Uber to enter the Springfield market.

City spokeswoman Cora Scott said the city reached out to Uber for comments during the process of shaping the bill, but did not get a response. When reached by a reporter late last week, an Uber spokesperson said the company was opposed to Springfield's ordinance.

Sagar Shah, an Uber manager in Missouri, said at the meeting that the company's issues with the law were primarily about placing restrictions on drivers. He said Uber wants cities to put those responsibilities on the company, rather than the individual drivers.

The bill also received several amendments before council voted to table it. Councilman Hosmer moved to up the insurance requirement, Councilwoman Fulnecky moved to allow drivers to concealed-carry, and Councilwoman Jan Fisk moved to raised the minimum age of a driver from 18 to 21.

The city also voted unanimously to approve a bill that paves the way for Kraft to expand its operation in Springfield. The bill provides for special financing for a $36 million investment to add lines at the Kraft plant, a move that would create more than 100 jobs, Kraft officials say.