Consultant studies buy Mercer County
Corrections more time
As a result of a wave of outrage over the proposed plan to transport
some 600 inmates from the Mercer County Corrections Center to
Hudson County’s incarceration facility that would put the jobs of more
than 100 of Local 167 members’ jobs in jeopardy, Mercer County freeholders agreed to hire two outside consultants to conduct comprehensive studies on separate sections of the plan.
The plan itself has been the subject of ongoing discussion and public
scrutiny since the Feb. 23 freeholder board meeting that called into question multiple facts and figures put forth by Mercer County Treasurer
David Miller, including a widely debated estimate of the salary and wage
reduction that he claims would save the county roughly $26.9 million.
Among the plan’s many critics in attendance at the February meeting,
David Beckett, an attorney working with Local 167, and State Delegate
Winslow Land feared not only the grave impact of impending layoffs on
Mercer County corrections officers and their families, but the estimated
savings’ failure to account for any unforeseen costs, including the cost of
transporting inmates back and forth between counties.
“It makes so little sense that it’s really hard to imagine,” argues Beckett,
who worries the plan outlines a poorly examined staffing requirement
for the transport that details 55 corrections officers, six sergeants, seven
lieutenants and 12 civilians. “They’re underestimating the amount of
officers it takes to run a jail.”
Both consultant studies will attempt to address those concerns, and
a growing number of others. The first study will conduct an in-depth
review of the county’s projected numbers, and report back to the county
freeholders within 60 days of the contract.
The second study will scout potential locations for a new Mercer
County incarceration facility the county presumably would construct
once the two-year contract with Hudson County expires. That study
would span an estimated six months.
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So what does the meticulous implementing of these studies mean for
Mercer Country corrections officers? The short answer is, “not much.”
Though both consultant studies will delay the decision-making
process, according to Mercer County spokesperson Julie Willmot B