COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

DATE:

July 26, 2004

BOARD MEETING DATE:

August 31, 2004

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Sheriff Don Horsley

SUBJECT:

Agreement with County of Los Angeles for Transportation of Prisoners.

Recommendation

Adopt a Resolution authorizing the President of the Board to:

1)

Waive the Request for Proposals (RFP) process; and

2)

Execute a five-year Agreement with the County of Los Angeles for prisoner transportation as part of the statewide system operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Background

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department operates a statewide prisoner transportation system.
Individuals for whom a warrant has been issued are frequently arrested in jurisdictions other than the one that has issued the warrant. When this occurs, the jurisdiction issuing the warrant is responsible for transporting the detainee back for arraignment within five days. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department schedules weekly prisoner transportation trips throughout the State of California.

The process of using Sheriff’s deputies to transport prisoners from other counties is cumbersome and expensive. Workloads must be reassigned and the incurred costs for salaries, travel and meals can be substantial.

Discussion

The County of Los Angeles travels from San Diego to Sacramento twice each week to move prisoners to the counties which have issues warrants for their arrest. Only male prisoners 16 years or older are transported. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department performs transportation services in accordance with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations.

The County of Los Angeles bases its charges on the number of miles a prisoner is transported, the number of meals consumed and any excess waiting time the driver must spend in a facility. The rates established by the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller for FY 2004-05 are $0.55 per prisoner, per mile, $6.17 per meal and an additional $55.35 per service hour if a significant amount of deputy sheriff’s time is spent in booking or picking up prisoners. The rates may be readjusted by the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller annually, to reflect the cost of salaries, applicable services and supplies and bus maintenance costs. Advance notice of readjustments will be given to County. However, the costs of utilizing their services are significantly less than using deputies from the Sheriff’s Office.

The County of Los Angeles is one of the few entities to operate a cost effective and efficient statewide system of prisoner transportation. Los Angeles County provides health and dental benefits to domestic partners, but life and disability insurance are yet not offered (although it is our understanding that an expansion of domestic partner benefits is presently under consideration by the County.) Therefore, the contractor is not fully compliant with the San Mateo County Equal Benefits Ordinance at this time. However, it is recommended that it is in the best interest of the County to waive full compliance with the Equal Benefits Ordinance as well as the RFP process ,on the grounds that Los Angeles County is the sole source cost effective provider of the type of prisoner transportation services for which it contracts.

The current Agreement with Los Angeles County expires in June 30, 2004. The proposed Agreement is for a five-year term and will continue transportation services to 2009. Total costs for FY 2004-05 are projected at $6,000.

The proposed Resolution and Agreement have been approved as to form by County Counsel.

Vision Alignment

This item keeps the commitment of responsive, effective and collaborative government through goal number 22: County and local governments effectively communicate, collaborate and develop strategic approaches to issues affecting the entire County.

Fiscal Impact

The term of the proposed Agreement is five-years, commencing on July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2009. The projected $6,000 for the first year has been included in the FY 2004-05 budget. Therefore, there is no additional County cost.