PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center will not renew its contract for nursing services at the Clallam County jail.
Commissioners Mike Doherty, Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger on Tuesday opened a $198,567 per-year bid from Correctional Health Care Management Inc. and submitted it to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office for review.
OMC had provided health care service at the jail for about $220,000 per year. It did not bid this year.
“I think it’s fair to say that the hospital just did not feel that they could do the quality of work that they really feel they have to do in the jail setting any longer,” County Administrator Jim Jones said.
Some inmates sought medical treatment when they really didn’t need it, OMC officials have told Jones. Nurses struggled to weed out the phony cases.
“It was just costing them way too much time,” Jones said.
Inmates are charged $20 per visit for treatment.
Jones said the county may be better served by an outside provider with experience in a jail setting.
“We’ve been working with the hospital, the hospital has been working with us, and we just simply came to a point where they don’t feel like they can be competitive with the private entity,” Jail Superintendant Ron Sukert said.
Based in Greenwood, Colo., Correctional Health Care Management Inc. provides inmate health care at 73 facilities in 10 western states.
Disc golf
Later in the commissioners’ meeting, the board took formal action on a decision it made on Jan. 25 to remove disc golf at Robin Hill Farm County Park from the Clallam County Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
Disc golf — also known as Frisbee golf — has been a hot-button topic at the 195-acre park since a 20-acre, 18-hole course was added to the county’s parks plan in 2008.
Opponents — mainly horseback riders, cyclists and hikers who use the park’s sprawling trails — said the disc golf proposal received a rubber stamp from the parks board.
They presented petitions with more than 1,000 signatures to the county, urging that the plan be scrapped.
Commissioner Mike Doherty invited those critics to help disc golfers find another place to play.
“I think that’s one thing we’ve learned in this process — that there is a place for disc golf in Clallam County, it’s just hopefully not at Robin Hill Farm,” said John Benham, who, along with members of Friends of Robin Hill, asked the commissioners to remove disc golf from the Robin Hill Farm County Park plan.
Doherty said has seen disc golf played in Seattle and described the sport as a “great family activity.”
“This has been an eye-opener for me as well,” said Benham, who added that the county is big enough to accommodate disc golf somewhere else.
Road projects
In other action, the commissioners passed a road resolution recommending projects to the state Department of Transportation for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding.
Paving work on Old Olympic Highway, Elwha River Road and the Olympic Discovery Trial were among the projects recommended for stimulus funds.
The commissioners also approved the $4,777 purchase of 0.09 acres of right of way to widen a stretch of Old Olympic Highway from Lewis to Gunn Road in Agnew.
The county is securing right of way in sections to widen the length of the east-west thoroughfare to 40 feet.
Ross Tyler, Clallam County Engineer, said about three-fourths of the right of way has been secured.
Meanwhile, the commissioners reappointed Jamye Wisecup, Brad Larson and Tim Bruce to the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Committee.
Barbara Richmond, Patti Adler and Lee Moore were appointed to the Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Committee.
All six appointments carry terms that expire in December 2012.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
