Remarks by Amber Huett-Garcia
22 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
Thank you I would say for new commissioners in our handbook on Saturday we did have an example of the budget commissioner clay Bibbs your prior leadership in that outline so if you haven't seen an example of a budget calendar most of us here are new that is on my that I am aware of that vice chair Caswell and I will get that together we have a lot a lot of work to do and so we will have that dedicated time thank you
Thank you, Chair. For the public, the voter registration deadline is less than a week away. One week away, October 5th. You have time to register. Regardless of party, you need to come up and vote. Make your voice heard in November. You have one more week to get registered. So go to ShelbyVote. Check your status. If not, get registered.
Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia. I'd like to nominate Steve Townsend.
Thank you. I'll start with my questions are coming from potential unexpected scenarios versus a suspicion that there may be a potential for a challenge here. This has my support. We need to get healthcare in our jails consistent. But I'm focused on, in the contract, the standards, requirements, and accreditation, and you were all just speaking to that. I keep hearing timely and in the contract, what is established, is 14 days the definition of timely? It's page six of the contract.
So I'm sorry. In the corrective action plan setting, what is a timely response? If somebody is issued a correct, if there's a corrective action plan issued for.
I think what I want to make sure is, excuse me, fees are not, there's $125 a day. So you're looking at about $3,000 a month for a corrective action plan being unaddressed. And if I'm looking at a contract that is, over a hundred thousand dollars a day are we building in a certain amount of room for non-compliance are we do we see any in in previous contracts or or prior experience that we have challenges with any corrective action plans are these fees enough I can't speak I think this is probably yeah for the administration yes
Yeah, I'm familiar with the exhibit E, where you've sketched it out. I think, will commissioners get an update monthly on any penalties that have been assessed? Will we get any sort of feedback ongoing? So yes, we can do that. Okay, thank you.
Thank you. What is the current number of open positions on the base hiring plan that we represented? How many do you have left to fill?
Is about 10 that are vacant so about 10 vacancies I heard currently 201 201 is about 30. Yes and then 10 at the that's my understanding okay is there is there a position common among all that is most common I'm sorry I'm not sure of that what what is it you know okay oh maybe miss Palmer
Okay I think it's for the listening public if you're an LPN and you are looking for a job we have one for you absolutely thank you very much seeing no other commissioners in the queue please prepare the screen for a vote
Thank you. Good morning. Welcome. My first comment is welcome and congratulations. Thank you. From the 11th floor, the 6th floor. Thank you. Looking forward to working with you. Everybody has praised you in the way that I'd like to praise you for this effort. I do have one specific question. Sure. In that audit, you mentioned consultants. and that controls piece, is it going to be, is part of that process, is there going to be an official audit and will you have any estimate of what recovered funds are, whether it's people who have delayed getting tags or maybe been charged something, maybe…
I appreciate that. And for you and the rest of the listening public, urgency is my love language. So thank you. Absolutely.
Thank you. I have a very long list of questions, but something that was just stated honestly surprised me, that there is no ratio. When we think about health care professionals or mental health professionals for children, that every state has that, right? We know it's hard to staff. There's a lack of humanity and no ratio is that we do not care how many people you have to serve. I know we are all operating under fiscal constraints, but that was actually shocking to me. Have you looked at what other counties maybe similar to Shelby have done in terms of staffing or low number of mishandled…
I appreciate that. I'm trying to pick up my next best question. A comment similar to Commissioner Sugarman. You sent this to 110 vendors and you had two responses with four We did not respond. That is, was there a cap on our contract limit? What do you think the reason for that was with the direct solicitation to 110 vendors?
Do you have any concept of what the average contract similar to this is for counties? What do other counties typically pay for these services that are doing well? I think I'm going back to like, do we understand what we really need to spend in order to deliver high quality care? And is this part of it? I don't know if there was a threshold in the RFP in terms of finance or...
I know I'm out of time, so I'll get back to you.
Thank you. I've heard a lot of comments about us pausing this and rebidding it. I'm very clear that we need to vote on what is before us. If we do not have health care services for inmates starting October 1st, that will be catastrophic, that is. Coming from a previous body of not approving even a cleaning contract for 200 buildings. We went without cleaning services, which are health and safety related, but not as high as stakes of this. It devolved pretty quickly. And you're talking about taking trash out and cleaning up buildings without medical care. It's not an option. We have to…
How does that compare to what we've done?
I just want to look at... That I would like, that is what I want to see as well because then I think we need to, we need some flexibility to adjust. What is the, I want to disincentivize bad behavior and if they're going to stand up to the quality of care, they should not worry about this, right? That having backup protocols in place because that is what we can hold them accountable to. So that will be where my questions center is. As we were for but it is very clear to me that we need to get this in place.
I'm impressed by the length of experience, the amount of experience. Thank you for all your service. I guess my question is with the amount of time that you've been doing this work, what perspective on what community members are facing that come before this court? has changed the most? Is there any point of view that has changed from doing this work most dramatically over the last few decades for you?
Thank you. I'm very impressed with the range of experience that you have and similar to your background of working with youth and juveniles and knowing families. Is there anything within Shelby County, you have decision makers in front of you, what sort of supports or community need have you seen increase over time that is impacting the courts? What do you think the most significant challenges in our community that is not improving that you would give us advice on?
Thank you. And thank you very much for being here and for submitting your name. I'm sorry, my voice. And submitting your name for consideration here. And the varying experience that you have is what strikes me the most. When you think about your... You talked a lot about your values sort of compartmentalize how you think about everything and who you are shows up. What is the... From all of the places that you've... served, what would you recommend to county commissioners in supporting our community in terms of resources that would impact this court?