KLICKITAT COUNTY JAIL SHOULD NOT BE CLOSED
On March 29, 2024, Klickitat County Commissioner, Lori Zoller announced that she was taking the lead on contracting with Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility (NORCOR) in The Dalles, Oregon. She further stated that Klickitat County Sheriff’s Jail inmates will be transported to NORCOR Jail Facility by April 12, 2024 and the KCSO Jail will be completely shut down by the end of April 2024.
During the meeting Board Chair Lori Zoller stated she put aside most of her work for some time now, along with the assistance of her staff, and they have spent one-thousand hours researching and vetting information in making the decision to contract KCSO Jail inmates with the NORCOR facility, out of Washington State, in The Dalles, Oregon.
Following the ambush announcement by County Commissioner Chair Lori Zoller and backed 100% by Commissioner Jacob Anderson, I initiated my own investigation into Commissioners Zoller and Anderson’s level of negotiations with NORCOR to house our inmates by April 12, 2024 and shut down our jail by the end of April, 2024.
On April 10, 2024, two days before we were supposed to transport our inmates to NORCOR for the housing of our inmates. I contacted two law enforcement Sheriff’s, board members of NORCOR. They informed us the first contact with NORCOR was on or about March 20th by two of our Commissioners, Zoller and Anderson. The contact was a rather casual conversation with NO commitment from NORCOR. They further informed us of the high cost, which would more than evaporate the claims of financial benefits by using NORCOR.
The two Sheriff’s informed us, along with two other people in my office, that Commissioners Zoller and Anderson “DO NOT HAVE A CONTRACT TO HOUSE KCSO INMATES AT NORCOR”. They further stated it could easily take 6 months for an agreement (contract) to reach a functional level, if NORCOR decided to contract with Klickitat County in order to accept Klickitat County inmates.
The statement above clearly contradicts the claims made by Commissioner Zoller and by Commissioner Anderson.
Therefore, I must conclude these Commissioners are either bungling incompetent or intentionally lying to the public and the Sheriff’s Office.
It was clear during the March 29th meeting that County Commissioner Dan Christopher was also blindsided about the NORCOR contract by his two seatmates, Zoller and Anderson. Those two seatmates have acted in gross disregard for a process which should have included Commissioner Christopher.
It was further learned that other law enforcement agencies that contract their prisoners to our jail, were also blindsided by Commissioners Zoller and Anderson that their inmates would be transported to the NORCOR JAIL on April 12, 2024.
Commissioners Zoller and Anderson had the Klickitat County Human Resources and Administrative Services Department start Union negotiations with the Employees Union for severance packages for the 16 employees that would lose their jobs in our jail due to the impending closure by the end of April 30, 2024. The County negotiations with the Union were based on a LIE, BECAUSE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ZOLLER AND ANDERSON DID NOT HAVE A CONTRACT WITH NORCOR TO HOUSE OUR INMATES.
On or about May 12, 2024, I made telephone contact with Franklin County Sheriff J.D. Raymond. I asked Sheriff Raymond if he could assist me by having the Chief of his jail make contact with us and conduct an evaluation of the Klickitat County Jail. Sheriff Raymond agreed to do so stating he will send his jail Commander Keilen Harmon to do the jail evaluation for us.
On May 15, 2024, Franklin County Jail Commander Keilen Harmon, made contact with Undersheriff Carmen Knopes, Chief Jail Deputy Loren Culp and I at Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office. I had never meant Commander Harmon before this meeting. Commander Harmon conducted an interview with us about our Jail Policies, Procedures, Jail Budget, Training of Jail Staff, Supervision in the jail, Chain of Command in the Jail, work hours for the Correction Deputies, etc.
Commander Harmon then accompanied Undersheriff Knopes and Chief Jail Deputy Culp on a tour of the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office Jail. Commander Harmon inspected the Jail kitchen, control room, living areas for the inmates, booking area where inmates are booked into the jail and Harmon also photographed the jail areas he inspected.
After touring the Jail, Commander Harmon, stated that he was impressed on how clean the jail was, especially with the cleanliness of the jail kitchen, as oftentimes Jail kitchens are not that clean. Commander Harmon stated the Jail staff appeared professional in carrying out their duties.
Commander Harmon stated, he does not think we have any problems with the Klickitat County Jail. He stated he will write up his findings and get back to us in a week or so.
On May 29, 2024, we received the findings from Franklin County Sheriff Jail Commander Keilen Harmon.
On May 29, 2024 at 9:00 A.M., The Board of County Commissioners held a workshop meeting in regards to the four Scenarios, options for the Klickitat County Jail services with comprehensive analysis of each.
Option 1: Contract with NORCOR and completely close the Klickitat County Jail. Under Option 1: the timeframe of this option is easily 1 – 2 years if not more with legislation. It is our understanding the County cannot contract on behalf of the City Police Departments therefore they would need the time to not only make budgetary and staffing changes but research and determine what facility they will use.
Option 2: Contract with NORCOR but maintain booking and holding in Goldendale open 24 hours. All arrests on the West end of the county made by city and county deputies will still have to travel all the way to Goldendale aka twice the distance they would have to if at NORCOR.
Option 3: Maintain current Jail but under Board of County Commissioners, remodeled, and staff to have a medical clinic onsite 7 days a week. The timeframe of this option is at minimum 4 weeks to adjust the CIP and hold a hearing.
Option 4: Build a new Jail facility to meet today’s jail standards and operational needs. TOTAL ESTIMATED COST $63,000,000.
The Board of County Commissioners decided to go with Options 2 as a possibility down the road. They picked Option 3, to maintain the current Jail under the Board of County Commissioners, creating a new county Department of Correction. The BOCC will appoint a Jail Administrator to run & operate the Jail. The new Jail Administrator will report directly to the Board of County Commissioners.
During the County Commissioners workshop, Commissioner Dan Christopher asked Commissioners Zoller and Anderson why they did not include an Option 5 that would have allowed the Jail to remain under the Sheriff. As I recall both Zoller and Anderson did not answer Commissioner Christopher’s question.
Commissioner Christopher also pointed out how his two seatmates padded the County Budget Report to get the results they wanted.
It is clear that Commissioners Zoller and Anderson FLAT OUT LIED to the Sheriff, his employees, other law enforcement agencies and the PUBLIC AT LARGE, when Commissioners Zoller and Anderson stated they had a contract with NORCOR to house our inmates on April 12, and would be closing the Klickitat County Jail by April 30, 2024.
This is a political sham being carried out by Commissioners Zoller and Anderson. Commissioner Zoller is power hungry and thinks she is the boss of elected officials and if they do not bow to her, She will show them who’s boss. She never sat down with us to talk about our jail needs or concerns about our jail employees.
Commissioner Anderson hates me, because in 2022, I tried to get him charged for allowing a juvenile beer party to continue at his Airbnb, that he owns in White Salmon, Washington. The prosecutor in Walla Walla refused to file charges. A County Commissioner should be held to a higher standard and not break the law. So, Commissioner Anderson has a conflict with me over that incident.
If you do not think it is political, ask Commissioner Dan Christopher and he will tell you, it is definitely political, on the part of his two seatmates Zoller and Anderson. They are trying to make the Sheriff look bad, because they are taking their lead from the far-left citizens of our County that hates Sheriff Bob Songer. I would add that Commissioner Dan Christopher is the only commissioner who has walked through the jail since March 29, 2024.
In my opinion the BOCC should have held a special election which encompasses five options, that would include the Jail staying under the Sheriff’s Office. The citizens are the elected officials boss, and should be allowed to vote on this major issue affecting Klickitat County Jail.
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