I wanted you to know that the Court (appointed Judge Costello in Monroe County who is hearing this case as all of this County’s judges recused themselves in the matter,) heard from the lawyers in both suits yesterday – those representing the plaintiff townships suing the County, and Sheriff Minzey, who also is suing the Commissioners, the County and me.

The shorthand version of what happened is that all parties agreed to put any further action on hold until an evidentiary hearing can be held October 10^th and 11^th. This hold includes any layoffs because of a reduction of police services to the three suing townships, Augusta, Salem and Ypsilanti, who continue to refuse to sign contracts for police services. (See my Update of 8/29)

That was pretty much all the news from yesterday’s legal proceedings, but after reading an e-mail from the Sheriff that went out to his staff later yesterday afternoon, I need to say more. I need to set the record straight for a sizable number of County employees who were misinformed by the Sheriff – either by oversight or for other reasons.

But wait, before I go there, I want to remind you, the employees of Washtenaw County, that ALL of what we have taken on over the past three years – the Jail Overcrowding Task Force and creation of the Criminal Justice Collaborative Council; the initial millage proposal that lost; the attempt to sell bonds and the following petition to disallow the sale of bonds; the creation of new jail diversion processes; the new methodology and local units’ payment for police services – all of it, began with the need to find ways to expand the Jail and make our courtrooms more secure.

In June of this year, the Sheriff and I made a joint recommendation that was passed as a resolution by the Board of Commissioners at their June 7^th Board meeting. It was an agreement that the County would no longer board inmates in other county facilities, and that all existing contracts with other counties would be cancelled as soon as inmates in those facilities had been released to programs or moved elsewhere. And the Sheriff reiterated this move in a PowerPoint presentation he gave to the Board that night.

The resolution included, quite pointedly, the following:

1) No additional County inmates would be boarded out to any other jail facility
2) Those inmates currently being boarded out would be permitted to remain in the facilities where they have been boarded until they were eligible to be released and
3) Once all the inmates in a particular county jail have been released, the County Administrator is authorized to cancel that boarding contract…

Imagine my shock when I received the following e-mail from Sheriff Minzey that went out to l-sheriff yesterday, sent to me from an employee: 

“Additionally, we are in the midst of another jail overcrowding emergency. 
In the past, when we reached this stage of the overcrowding process,
we boarded inmates at other counties. I had planned to proceed with
out-county boarding later this week, utilizing the same jails as in the past,
to reduce the jail population to the mandated count of 322. However,
Mr. Guenzel has taken action to prevent any transfer of inmates by
canceling boarding contracts with the counties we have been using
for temporary housing. (My emphasis)

Once again, I would surmise that this action is politically motivated, as
the boarding contracts were cancelled the same day I filed suit against
Mr. Guenzel and the Board of Commissioners to stop the impending lay-offs.”

This last “surmise” by the Sheriff is not only off-base, it is completely and utterly false.

I’m sorry to make this everyone’s news, but I found this particular communication from the Sheriff damaging to the extent that it needed to be made public.

We are in a very difficult time as we attempt to change the way local governments pay, and how much they pay, for police services.  It does not help the pressure many are feeling when this kind of misinformation – or disinformation - gets into the mix. 

If you're confused about these issues, or would like to discuss them with me, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Bob