PORT ANGELES — A four-year dispute between Clallam County and the city of Forks is nearly resolved.
The county is releasing Forks from $17,132.65 in medical debt and will charge the West End city $70 per day to house an inmate at the Clallam County jail.
Daily medical fee
The daily fee, which includes a $3 medical expense, is the same rate that Port Angeles and Sequim will pay under a new, standardized agreement between the cities and Clallam County.
“I talked to [Forks attorney] Rod Fleck, and he is not opposed to it,” Clallam County jail superintendent Ron Sukert told commissioners Mike Doherty, Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman in Monday’s work session.
“In fact, he supports this.”
Fleck is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.
In 2005, Sequim and Forks sued the county over payment for prisoner confinement services. At the heart of the dispute, the parties quarreled over the interpretation of a state law addressing the rights and responsibilities of cities and counties that have prisoner agreements.
The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County Superior Court.
After the county reached a settlement with the city of Sequim, Port Angeles agreed to the $67-per-day jail fee.
Forks is unique, Sukert said, because it has its own jail.
“They lock up their own misdemeanors out there,” he said.
Forks could pass on the deal, but Sukert said he expects Forks Police Chief Mike Powell to sign the agreement when he returns from vacation.
Following that, the three county commissioners can put the dispute to bed. The county will sign a resolution to forgive the medical debt and a contract for the jail-use agreement.
“The last step of this three-step prong is Forks,” Sukert said.
Sukert said the working relationship between the county and the cities has become more amenable in recent years.
Sukert praised
Chapman credited Sukert and Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict for developing one standardized agreement for each of the cities.
“This is good for the taxpayers of the entire county,” Chapman said.
Meanwhile, Clallam County is applying for a $312,386 grant from the U.S. Forest Service to maintain funding for its third chain gang.
The chain gang cleans illegal dump sites, maintains campgrounds, rebuilds firepits and generally supports forest areas, Sukert said. The project frees time for forest service workers to attend to other projects.
The three-year grant averages $116,348 per year.
Clallam County Public Works Director Craig Jacobs, acting as county administrator, signed off on the grant application.
County Administrator Jim Jones is away this week on vacation.
“Essentially, what we did today was reapply for these grant monies,” Sukert said.
Historically, the third chain gang was funded by the U.S. Forest Service. That funding was cut in January.
To compensate, the county last August started working on an agreement with Olympic National Park for chain gang services there.
ONP superintendent Karin Gustin supported the idea.
“We were just about to ink an agreement,” Sukert said.
But a 1930s law prohibiting prison labor in national parks nixed the deal last month.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
