Jail Trust names administrator for Oklahoma County Jail with no timeline

Which employees will be retained, and contracts still unclear

Monday the Jail Trust named career Oklahoma Department of Corrections administrator Greg Williams as the incoming Jail Administrator and CEO of the Oklahoma County Detention Center, also known as the Oklahoma County Jail.

The resolution gave no specific deadline for Williams to begin his tenure.

The Trust went on to discuss which jail employees would remain in the employ of the jail and which would leave with the Sheriff. They also attempted to sort out misunderstandings about ongoing and outstanding contracts with Jail vendors.

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New Administrator

After a months-long search, the Jail Trust approved a resolution appointing Greg Williams as the CEO and Administrator of the Oklahoma County Detention Center.

Williams is currently Deputy Chief of Operations for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections where he has served in various capacities over the last 35 years.

During that time he has been responsible for human resources, training, policy procedures, accreditation, and safety units.

Williams’s career in corrections began in 1983 as a corrections officer at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, OK and includes administrative positions at prisons and in the State Department of Corrections.

The Trust went on to discuss which jail employees would remain in the employ of the jail and which would leave with the Sheriff. The Trust also discussed misunderstandings about ongoing and outstanding contracts with Jail vendors.

Employee Retention

Trustee Sue Ann Arnall requested two items on today’s agenda requesting names and length of employment of current employees at the jail. The first was those who would be remaining at the jail after the transition to the Trust’s administration, the other for those who would be remaining employed by the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff was amenable to supplying the information on current employees who are not in a law-enforcement role but pointed out that those roles are constantly in flux as jail employees, as well as deputies, resign their positions.

As for those employees who will continue to be employed by the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Taylor said that he didn’t believe the Trust needed the employee’s names. In spite of his assertion, the Trust voted 8-1 in favor of the request.

Contract Confusion

Trustee Ben Brown requested a discussion and possible action to implore the Board of County Commissioners and the County Budget Board to approve no contracts regarding the Detention Center unless authorized by the Trust. This led to a discussion of claims made in the public comments, Trust meetings, and Board of County Commissioners meetings about the status of some contracts.

While the Trust is currently not legally able to authorize or disallow any contracts for the Jail, they have requested that the BoCC reserve action on entering into long term contracts. The Sheriff’s Office argued that with each month that passes, $100,000 for the County is “left on the table.”

That $100,000 per month the Sheriff referred to is the difference between what the Jail budget receives from the current old contract month-to-month and what they could be receiving if the new contract was already in effect.

The contract discussion was decided to be moot at this point and was deferred for more appropriate discussion at the next meeting of the Jail Trust.

The Trust meets again on December 2, 2019.

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Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.