DEPARTMENT: Police
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William McManus,
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Contract with Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System
SUMMARY:
An ordinance approving a contract with Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System to provide onsite healthcare services to persons in custody at the Arrestee Administrative Processing Center for a two year term beginning July 1, 2018 with a two-year renewal option. Funding for FY 2018 in the amount of $454,859.00 is available in the FY 2018 Budget. Funding for subsequent years of the contract will be contingent upon City Council approval of the annual budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City of San Antonio (City) and Bexar County (County) have jointly operated a Centralized Magistration and Detention Center (the "CMAG") since the 1980’s.
The CMAG operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and processes an average of 150 to 200 inmates daily. All arrested individuals in County are taken to this facility and are detained on warrants and/or charged with various offenses ranging from traffic citations to violent felonies. Arrestees are held until charges are filed and the individual is magistrated by a County magistrate judge. Arrestees are allowed to make bond and are released from the facility if appropriate. Non-violent arrestees may be interviewed and approved for a personal recognizance bond. Bexar County personnel perform identification and booking services at the CMAG. If a bond is not made, arrestees are held until the commitment is released and transferred to the Bexar County Jail. As part of this joint operation, the County has a contract with the Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System to provide medical screening to arrestees brought into the facility. Through an interlocal agreement with the County, the City pays a portion of this contract.
On July 1, 2018, the County has indicated they will open the Justice Intake and Assessment Center (JIAC) to process all arrested individuals in the County. In order to maintain current efficiencies, the City has decided to continue operating the CMAG for individuals arrested by the San Antonio Police, Airport Police, and Park Police Departments, to be called the “Arrestee Administrative Processing Center” or AAPC. The City will be responsible for the total cost, operations, and services of the AAPC as well as providing medical screenings to arrestees brought into the facility.
The SAPD seeks to maintain operations at the AAPC to maintain current operational efficiencies that are not provided at the Bexar County JIAC. The Bexar County JIAC does not provide for any public inebriate processing or adequate space for the processing of CoSA Class C arrestees. In addition, the intake area and process within the Bexar County JIAC is assessed to be under designed for the volume of prisoners and will lead to additional delay for SAPD officer booking prisoners into the new Bexar County facility. The CoSA Office of Innovation conducted an analysis of the proposed Bexar County facility and process and estimated that these delays would equate to approximately 4.4 million dollars which is equivalent to the time of 38 SAPD officers serving the public. Furthermore, CoSA will assume the responsibility for the magistration of arrestees at the AAPC. Currently, Bexar County performs the magistration process which results in arrestees being held for a significant amount of time, often exceeding 18 hours. Once CoSA assumes the magistration of arrestees this will reduce arrestee time in the facility to less than 5 hours in most cases.
The proposed contract between the City and Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System will provide onsite healthcare services to persons in custody at the AAPC. The initial contract will begin for a period of two (2) years, upon Bexar County vacating the facility and CoSA executing the contract with UHS and end two years thereafter. The contract may be extended for an additional two (2) years by mutual agreement of City and Health System. After the initial term, the contract renewal will be subject to a review of costs of services and inflation. The contract will not exceed a four year term and a total of $3,088,485.76.
ISSUE:
The proposed ordinance will ensure the continuation of medical screening to arrestees brought into the City’s AAPC the Bexar County JIAC begins operations. Currently, the city pays a portion of the contract cost to the County for medical screenings through University Health System, as governed by an inter-local agreement. Under the new contract, the City will be responsible for the cost of the contract to provide medical screenings for arrestees who are brought to Arrestee Administrative Processing Center.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should this contract not be approved, the San Antonio Police Department would be unable to provide medical screening to arrestees brought into the Arrestee Administrative Processing Center. This would expose the City to potential liability by not having medical services available on site.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance authorizes a two-year contract with Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System with a two-year renewal option to provide onsite healthcare services to persons in custody at the City of San Antonio Detention Center in an amount not to exceed $749,341.46 for the first two years. Funds for the first three months of the contract from July 1 to September 30, in the amount of $454,849.00 are available in the FY 2018 General Fund Budget. Funding for subsequent years of the contract will be contingent upon City Council approval of the annual budget.
|
Year |
Annual Cost (July, 1 - June, 30) |
Increase |
Total Cost |
|
1 |
$749,341.46 |
|
|
|
2 |
$749,341.46 |
|
|
|
3 |
$779,315.12 |
4% |
|
|
4 |
$810,487.72 |
4% |
|
|
|
|
|
$3,088,485.76 |
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the approval of the contract with Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System to provide onsite healthcare services to persons taken into custody at the City of San Antonio Arrestee Administrative Processing Center.