Fannin County Detention Center nearing end of first year of operation

Bonham, Texas -- With the Fannin County Detention Center nearing the end of its first year of operation, the Fannin County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors held their annual meeting Monday, August 9 to review the past 12 months and plan for the coming year.

Officers for the Fannin County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors are Fannin County Judge Eileen Cox, president; Fannin County Commissioner Stan Barker, vice president; and Fannin County Auditor Scott Dyer, secretary/treasurer.

Herbert S. Bristow, an attorney and consultant with Waco law firm Haley & Olson was on hand to advise the board of directors during the meeting.

The privately operated 432-bed facility, operated by Community Education Centers (CEC), Inc., opened September 8, 2009.

Approximately 91,000 square feet of the jail is designed to house inmates, while the Fannin County Sheriff's Office occupies another 7,500 square feet.

Fannin County is allotted up to 155 beds to house prisoners at a negotiated rate of $45 per day for each prisoner. If the county needs additional beds, then it would be at the lowest rate offered to other entities.

The duration of the bond issuance will be just under 25 years and Fannin County would assume ownership of the facility at that time.

Fannin County Detention Center

The first issue discussed was possible warranty issues since the one-year warranty date will soon expire. To date, only minor problems have been identified and those are being quickly corrected by Hale-Mills Construction and subcontractors.

As of August 9, $11,303.90 remained in the construction fund and, minus any amount needed for minor repairs; those funds will now be rolled over into a comprehensive operations fund.

Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore cuts the ribbon at the Fannin County Detention Center on August 3, 2010.

One of the primary responsibilities at the annual meeting is to pay for services incurred during the year, such as the annual independent audit for the detention center. It is important to note that all payments are made from proceeds set aside from the operation of the facility. The Fannin County Detention Center was built at no cost to Fannin County taxpayers and all operational costs are funded internally from profits derived by operating the jail.

As of August 9, 2010 Fannin County Detention Center was housing 401 inmates, with 105 being offenders from Fannin County along with 296 U.S. Marshal Service inmates from across the Eastern District of Texas.

For the past two months, Fannin County has been housing more than 250 Marshal Service inmates and all indications seem to point towards that number increasing in the future.

"We were in the right place at the right time for the facility we have," said Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore.

The telephone contract at the Fannin County Detention Center has also proved to be very beneficial. Estimates are that the county will collect approximately $280,000-$285,000 this year from that contract.

Fannin County has had its former jail, a 96-bed facility, available to contract out, but the most likely scenario now would be for the former county jail to be leased and operated by Community Education Centers (CEC), Inc. once the Fannin County Detention Center approaches capacity.

The last order of business was to select officers of the Fannin County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors for the coming year. A motion was made for all three officers to remain in their current capacity, with the notation that Judge Cox will be replaced by Judge-elect Spanky Carter in January 2011.