PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County and Port Townsend city leaders have struck agreements for jail and animal services, which the county provides.
The county commissioners in their consent agenda Monday approved the agreements which charge the city for a day of jail use to be no less than $27.54 for inmates released before 5 p.m. and no more than $63.12 for those released after 5 p.m.
“That basically was the terms that we proposed,” said City Manager David Timmons, who last week signed an agreement with Chelan County to occasionally ship city inmates there for long-term stays.
“Right now we only anticipate one person being shipped over there,” said Timmons, adding that the city would rarely transfer inmates to Wenatchee.
Inmates shipped there would be those with jail terms of a year or more, he said, and cost the city $40 a day per inmate.
“It will be on a case-by-case basis,” Timmons said.
Chelan services
County Administrator John Fischbach took issue with the city shipping inmates off to Chelan County.
“I think it would be a mistake if they do that,” he said Monday after the commissioners approved the jail pact.
Fischbach said transportation costs are rising, and moving inmates to Chelan causes hardships on families of inmates.
“The city pushes ‘shop locally,’ but this is not,” said Fischbach.
However, Fischbach said, as a former city manager in Colorado, “I understand why they have to do it.”
The city also agreed to pay Jefferson County $109,855 for municipal court services offered through county District Court.
