(PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
MEMBERS … Board members discuss bed counts for member counties for this coming year. Some counties requested a drop in their total bed county with others opting to remain the same.
By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
A Board and Regional Planning Meeting was held this past week for the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio.
The meeting was held on Wednesday, August 28th at 9:30 a.m. Members first moved to approve the minutes as presented, as well as the financial reports for the months of June and July.
Line-item fund transfers were then approved next, along with a list of assets for disposal. 2025 bed reallocation numbers were then discussed and approved.
These numbers included a total drop of 11 beds, with numbers also showing updated requests from each area.
It was stated that Lucas County would like to drop three beds from 173 to 170, Defiance will be going from 63 to 60, Williams County will be staying the same at 55, Fulton County will be dropping five beds from 52 to 47, and Henry County will be staying the same.
This equates to a change from 380 beds in 2024 to 369 in 2025. Following the approval of a memorandum for those number changes, the discussion shifted to the administrative release policy, which was approved with bed counts.
A recent FCC Ruling was then discussed as it pertains to phone and video costs. It was stated that it appears CCNO will not have to comply until the current contract runs out.
Once the contract runs out in 2026 there may be a loss of revenue due to this, however, this means inmates would have money for additional calls which may mean there is no revenue lost if they choose to use it.
Moving on, the board was presented with an operation update. As of the time of the meeting, CCNO had approximately 574 inmates inside, with 354 of those being from member counties.
This number of 574 is only around 15 away from being at 100%, which will lead to the administrative release policy coming into effect.
On September 10th, a meeting will be held with architects who are currently working on a project. All the information will then be sent to the state for them to look at. Also, reports have been received, with all standards being met and five exceeding standards.
The annual state jail inspection will be held on September 12th and Federal Negotiations are still being conducted. An update for work conducted by Securitas was then discussed, before moving on to talk about a new item put forward by the governor.
As it pertains to in-custody deaths, it was stated that the governor would like county jails to have someone else besides the county investigate the incident and recommended the agency be two located at least two counties away.
Discussion then took place with it being suggested Memorandum of Understands be put together with different agencies to follow through with this. Both the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office were put forward, along with some others.
The board then moved on to discuss Employees of the Month. For the month of June, Susan Shaffer was awarded the title.
Susan is a Correction Supervisor and was nominated because she takes the time to coach new officers in their roles and helps them develop their skills.
She has been nominated three times in the past two months and the common theme in the nominations is that she is a role model and that she is willing to address difficult issues.
For the month of July, the Employee of the Month was awarded to Daniel Lorenzen. Daniel found a bag of drugs during a pat down of a new book in and prevented the dangerous contraband from entering the facility. The inmate was charged with attempting to convey drugs into a correctional facility.
Lastly, the board moved to enter into executive session. Following this session, the board moved to adjourn the meeting.