Archive: Beaver County Jail, CiviGenics

May 24, 2007 Beaver Times
The Beaver County Commissioners' approval Thursday of a $72,000 payment to settle claims from the Massachusetts company that almost took over the county jail last year brings the total spent on trying to outsource the jail to nearly $1 million. CiviGenics was poised to assume control of the jail in October, but a ruling by President Judge Robert Kunselman ordering the county to obey an arbitrator's decision halted the deal. Instead, the county signed a new contract with jail guards. Commissioners had estimated that the county could have saved as much as $1.9 million annually by outsourcing the jail to CiviGenics. During the last week of December, the county paid CiviGenics $125,000 under the terms of its contract. Thursday's payment will cover additional expenses such as training and travel costs. "It's fair compensation," said Commissioners Chairman Joe Spanik after the board approved the payment. "They showed receipts for what (expenses) were there." In addition to the payments made to CiviGenics, the county's legal fees have reached nearly $793,000, said county financial administrator Rob Cyphert. That figure covers this year, 2006 and 2005, and includes not only work on privatization, but on contract negotiations with the union and settlement talks with CiviGenics. Commissioner Charlie Camp said he didn't regret trying to outsource the jail because "it was well within our rights to do that." Camp said the savings over the life of the guards' contract, estimated at $680,000 annually, will surpass the amount spent on CiviGenics and legal fees so the county won't really lose any money. "I regret we got two bad judgment calls from the arbitrator and the county judge," Camp said. Asked if he regretted pursuing privatization in light of the taxpayer money spent on the wasted effort, Spanik said outsourcing appeared to be a "good deal" for the county, and hindsight is always 20/20. "If I was a prognosticator," he said, "I'd hit the lottery." Initially, CiviGenics asked for $329,000 to cover its costs in preparing to manage the Hopewell Township jail, Cyphert said. Spanik said the county balked at that figure, though, and officials found some expenses they didn't think the county should pay. "We scrutinized the bills they submitted to us," Spanik said. When the $125,000 payment was made, county Solicitor Myron Sainovich said the county might consider reimbursing CiviGenics for additional costs, such as training and travel costs, because the county was unable to give the company any notice before nixing the contract. "Quite frankly, we would've been liable for those (expenses) because we were in breach," Sainovich said Thursday. Sainovich said the $72,000 doesn't compensate CiviGenics for "pain and suffering," but only for verifiable expenses.

January 10, 2007 Beaver Times
Beaver County has met its contractual obligation and paid $125,000 to the company that would have taken over the county jail if a court ruling had not nixed the deal, county solicitor Myron Sainovich said Wednesday. CiviGenics, a Massachusetts-based company, was paid in the last week of December, said Rob Cyphert, the county's financial administrator. Under terms of its contract with CiviGenics, the county was obligated to pay the company no more than $125,000 "for all reasonable and documented start-up expenses" if the county decided against outsourcing the Hopewell Township jail. That's exactly what happened after Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman ruled that the county was required to abide by an arbitration decision that prohibited privatization over the life of an arbitration-imposed three-year contract. County commissioners chose not to appeal Kunselman's decision. Instead of handing over management duties to CiviGenics on Oct. 31 as they had planned, commissioners agreed to a new four-year contract that was estimated to save the county about $600,000 a year. Commissioners had spent more than two years studying privatization and at least $500,000 over several months litigating their right to outsource the jail. They claimed the county would've saved $1.9 million a year by contracting with CiviGenics. Last month, commissioners raised county property taxes by 1 mill and laid the blame squarely at Kunselman's feet. The county's tax rate is now 18.7 mills. Sainovich said he hasn't heard of CiviGenics requesting additional money, but the county might consider paying for other verifiable training and travel costs. "The county will try and reimburse them for those (expenses) because we did kind of go up until the last hour," he said.

November 29, 2006 Beaver Times
A county judge believes that even if operations at the Beaver County Jail had been privatized, county residents would still have to pay higher taxes. In a written opinion released Tuesday, President Judge Robert E. Kunselman disputed county commissioners main argument: that turning over operations at the Hopewell Township facility to the CiviGenics company would save enough money that a tax increase could be avoided next year. Kunselman made his ruling in late October; Tuesdays opinion explained his reasoning. For months, commissioners pushed a plan that said that if the Massachusetts-based private correctional services company took over operations at the jail, the county could save $1.9 million annually. The changeover from county to private oversight was halted by Kunselman just a couple of days before the Oct. 30 switch was to take place. Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said Tuesday afternoon that Kunselmans ruling was filled with errors, omissions and presumptions about the county's budget. He promised a written response to Kunselmans opinion within the next day or two. I am flabbergasted, Donatella said, adding that he thinks Kunselman purposely waited until the day after an appeal period had expired so that his written opinion wouldn't be questioned by a higher court. Earlier, however, commissioners said Kunselmans order barring privatization wouldn't be appealed because it was unlikely that a higher court would overturn the decision. Kunselman declined to comment on Donatellas remarks. Kunselman became involved in the jail issue when Service Employees International Union Local 668 sued the county earlier this year, saying it had to abide by a contract arbitration award. That arbitration included the prohibition of privatization for three years and requiring jail employees to make concessions. The arbitration was rendered moot when the county and jail employees came to an agreement in October on a new four-year contract. In his October opinion, Kunselman ruled there was no legal reason for the county to ignore the arbitration and privatize the jail. Also, Kunselman said in the opinion that during hearings on the arbitration award, county employees said the county would have a $140,000 deficit at the end of November and would be in the red by $3 million at the end of the year, if the arbitration was awarded. Kunselman said there was no direct proof that the arbitration was the reason for the deficit. He said that while the county projected a savings of $1.5 million in the first year of privatization, it also projected a $3 million budget deficit. Thus, we concluded that the county would have to increase taxes to pay for the CiviGenics contract anyway, Kunselman said.

November 9, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The legal fight over privatizing the Beaver County Jail has cost the county about $500,000, and that's just the beginning. The county commissioners will sit down soon with representatives of CiviGenics Inc., the company they had hired to run the jail, to work out a fair compensation for the company's troubles. "We have calculated the cost of preparing to take over the jail," company Chief Operating Officer Peter Argeropulos said, adding that CiviGenics had put more than 50 people through guard training and had assembled complete plans for the takeover and management. He declined to say what the calculated number was. CiviGenics responded to a county inquiry in the summer of last year, offering a deal that would have saved the county about $1.9 million a year. When the union representing the county-employed jail guards couldn't match the savings, the commissioners announced the switch, dropping the union and hiring CiviGenics starting Oct. 31. But four days before the takeover, Common Pleas Judge Robert E. Kunselman ruled that the county had to abide by an arbitration award that gave the union a new contract. The commissioners announced Oct. 31 that they had accepted a deal with the union and would not appeal the judge's ruling. Under the county's contract with CiviGenics, it owes the company $125,000 if the deal gets scratched "through no fault of the county." Asked if the company's costs exceeded $125,000, Mr. Argeropulos replied, "Oh, certainly." But he expressed confidence that a settlement could be worked out.

October 28, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Beaver County Jail will continue to be run by public employees, after a court ruling yesterday that derailed the county's privatization move. Beaver County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman upheld a June arbitration award that gave the county's jail guards a new three-year contract. The county had set Monday as the date for a Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics Inc., to take over jail operations, a move that would have left the unionized guards out of work. "It still hasn't hit home," union steward and jail guard Tom Trkulja said. "From the beginning we believed the law says what the law says and everybody has to follow it." The dispute has its roots in a series of cost-cutting moves made by the county commissioners over the last three years. Looking to pare the $6 million-plus jail budget, they decided to take proposals for private management. CiviGenics in the summer of 2005 made a proposal that would save the county $1.9 million a year, and with the union contract expiring in December, the commissioners demanded that the union meet that savings. When the union would not, the commissioners declared union negotiations at an impasse and signed a contract with CiviGenics in January. The union contract went to arbitration, but in June, before the arbitration panel finalized its ruling, the county enacted its contract with the private firm. CiviGenics has been hiring and training replacements for the 53 full-time and 17 part-time guards, who are members of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. The union, however, asked the court to enforce an arbitration award issued in June, which it regarded as binding. The commissioners argued that since the award would force them to take legislative action to raise money to pay the guards, state law rendered it advisory only. In a hearing before Judge Kunselman on Tuesday, county Financial Administrator Rob Cyphert testified that the county would run out of cash in about a month under the union contract, and would likely have to increase its debt load to stay afloat. The union, however, argued that the county created its own budget crunch by basing its budget on the CiviGenics deal. The county "engaged in bad faith bargaining by establishing a budget which could only be accomplished by the privatization of the prison without the legal authority to make such an assumption," the union's legal brief said.

October 27, 2006 The Beaver Times
Beaver County Courthouse workers voted on a contract proposal Thursday that union officials said was essential to keeping the county jail from being privatized, but results were unavailable late Thursday. Whether their new contract and the one approved this past Monday by jail guards actually save enough money to persuade the county commissioners not to privatize the jail this coming Monday remains to be seen. Service Employees International Union Local 668 members were called to a 4:30 p.m. meeting at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Vanport Township to vote on the proposal that SEIU state officials unveiled in a tense meeting Tuesday. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella and Commissioner Charlie Camp said late Thursday they had yet to be informed of the result of the union's vote. Commissioner Joe Spanik could not be reached for comment. The union is under pressure to resolve the situation because Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman is expected to issue his ruling today on whether the county must abide by an arbitration decision released earlier this year. If Kunselman would rule that the decision is not binding, the county would be free to pursue privatization. At the Tuesday meeting, SEIU leaders told courthouse workers that their new contract was being tied to the jail guards' contract. The savings from those two contracts would be combined to try to meet the financial demands of county commissioners, who want to privatize the jail to save approximately $1.9 million annually.

October 26, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Management of the Beaver County Jail is up for determination tomorrow, though whether it is by court order or through last-minute labor talks remains to be seen. County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman plans to issue a ruling tomorrow on whether the county can turn jail management over to a private firm Monday morning. Judge Kunselman held a hearing Tuesday and demanded briefs from union and county attorneys by this morning. The county commissioners are calling for a decision by tomorrow on an across-the-board contract offer that would keep the unionized, publicly employed jail guards in place but would include new contracts with five other unions representing county workers. The last-ditch deal was ratified by the jail guards Sunday, but faces an uphill battle with the other unions, which have been working without contracts for almost two years while rejecting similar offers. The unions held a tumultuous membership meeting Wednesday, with no agreement forthcoming. If the unions decline the contract offer and Judge Kunselman rules in the county's favor, CiviGenics Inc. will take over jail management Monday. The takeover would culminate a two-year effort by the commissioners to cut costs at the Hopewell facility.

October 25, 2006 Beaver Times
As the deadline for privatizing the Beaver County Jail looms closer, it appears the only way for jail guards to avoid losing their jobs is for courthouse union members to accept concessions, too. But, if an emergency meeting Tuesday of Service Employees International Union Local 668 members who work at the courthouse is any indication, those jail guard jobs are as good as gone. Courthouse workers were summoned to a meeting with state SEIU officials at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Vanport Township to hear a last-minute proposal to save the jobs of their SEIU brethren at the jail. Once there, according to one employee who attended the meeting but asked not to be identified, union officials told courthouse workers to accept the contract terms presented or Massachusetts-based CiviGenics would take over the jail. Some guards have applied to and been hired by CiviGenics, but most would be laid off if the company took over. The employee said the proposal would have workers pay 1 percent toward health-care insurance costs in 2007 and 2008 and 1.5 percent starting in 2009. Employees would receive raises of 2.5 percent on Jan. 1; 3 percent in 2008 and 3.5 percent in 2009. Courthouse workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1, 2004, and negotiations have snagged on wages and the county's demand that employees start contributing to health insurance costs. Other terms, according to the employee, include a one-week reduction in the maximum amount of vacation earned (from five to four weeks) and the loss of three holidays (Flag Day, Dec. 26 and an employee's birthday). The employee said the raucous meeting ended with frustrated courthouse workers leaving without taking a vote. Tuesday's meeting followed a vote by jail guards Monday to accept a contract proposal. Union officials would not publicly discuss the contract, but one said it was similar to an arbitration decision released earlier this year. That decision reduced the number of full-time guards, froze wages for jail guards for three years and implemented a 1 percent contribution toward health insurance. But it also prohibited the county from privatizing the jail for three years. County commissioners, though, rejected the arbitration decision, saying that the purported $450,000 in savings fell short of the estimated $1.9 million the county could save by having CiviGenics manage the jail in Hopewell Township. CiviGenics is scheduled to take over the jail Monday, so pressure is mounting on jail guards to do something or face layoffs. Whatever the guards agreed to apparently still didn't meet the commissioners' financial demands, so courthouse employees were asked to take concessions in order to package a cost-saving deal to the county. One flier being circulated around the courthouse Tuesday perfectly illustrated the feelings over the proposal. "We are not happy about this and hope that everyone will not be blackmailed by the commissioners," the flier read. In a related matter Tuesday, attorneys for the SEIU and the county debated the merits of the arbitration decision before Beaver County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman. Both sides said they expect Kunselman to issue a decision by Friday. The union wants Kunselman to order the county to abide by the arbitration decision, while county commissioners argue that the ruling would force them to raise property taxes to pay for the jail. Before that hearing began, Claudia Lukert, the SEIU's attorney, withdrew the union's request for an injunction, but she refused to explain why.

October 17, 2006 Beaver Times
A hearing that could decide the fate of the Beaver County Jail is expected to be moved up a week, as a final deadline looms. Civigenics is scheduled to take over management of the jail on Oct. 30, in a move that county commissioners have billed as one that will save taxpayers money. Within the past few weeks, representatives of Service Employees International Union Local 668 filed suit against Beaver County, asking a judge for an injunction that would stop the switchover from county to private supervision. Under the changeover, dozens of current jail guards would lose their jobs.

October 12, 2006 Beaver Times
Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman apparently doesn't believe in the old idiom "A day late and a dollar short." Even though CiviGenics is poised to take over management of the county jail Oct. 30, Kunselman has scheduled a hearing on a request for an injunction from the jail guards' union for Oct. 31. Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said the head-scratching decision by Kunselman would not stop CiviGenics from taking over the jail as scheduled. "We can't sit around and speculate on what is going to happen," Donatella said. The judge's decision is bewildering because county officials have made it clear over the last few weeks in newspaper articles and letters to jail employees that CiviGenics would assume control Oct. 30. Kunselman did not respond to a telephone message left at his courthouse office Wednesday seeking an explanation for his decision. Dave Ramsey, the jail guards' union representative with Service Employees International Union Local 668, also did not return a message left at his office. To win an injunction, county solicitor Myron Sainovich said the union must prove to Kunselman that it is likely that it would prevail in litigation and that irreparable harm would occur if the jail were privatized. "I don't believe they can show that," Sainovich said. The Pittsburgh law firm of Thorp, Reed & Armstrong is representing the county in litigation about the jail. In a one-page order, Kunselman gave both sides until Oct. 27 to submit briefs "on the question of whether or not injunctive relief can or should be granted." This is the second recent court decision on the jail takeover that has raised the eyebrows of county officials. Six of the seven judges rejected a county request to recuse themselves from litigation involving the jail to avoid conflicts of interest. Judge Deborah Kunselman removed herself from any hearings citing her former position as county solicitor.

October 5, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County labor leaders might soon face a touchy, difficult choice. They hate seeing the county bringing in a private firm to run the county jail, and they feel betrayed by Democratic Commissioners Dan Donatella, a longtime friend of labor, and Joe Spanik, a labor official elected in 2003. But would they go as far as to shut down all political activities? Would they punish Mike Veon, of Beaver, and Vince Biancucci, of Center, incumbent Democratic state legislators counting on union support for re-election? Such a request is implied in a Sept. 26 letter from Kathy Jellison, president of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, to its members who are county employees working at the jail. "It is no longer acceptable for local party leaders and other elected officials to remain silent while asking us to help them," the letter says. "They must stand with us." The letter says Local 668 plans "to demand an immediate suspension of all electoral activity in Beaver County by organized labor. ... We are requesting that labor organizations shut down phone banks, labor walks and all other in-kind contributions. ... We are requesting that you and/or your family members not take part in any candidate on the ballot in the county. Cash contributions should be suspended as well." In a county that is still heavily Democratic and where organized labor is still a huge political force, the idea has people nervous, waiting to see if the request is actually made.

October 3, 2006 Beaver Times
In an order signed Monday, only Judge Deborah Kunselman recused herself from hearing any arguments, citing the fact that she was county solicitor when the move to privatize the jail began. The county had asked the judges to remove themselves from any cases concerning litigation with Service Employees International Union Local 668, which represents the jail guards. SEIU opposed the county's request, insisting that any arguments should be heard by a Beaver County judge. The union has asked for an injunction to halt the county from handing the reins of the jail to CiviGenics on Oct. 30 and it has asked the court to order the county to abide by an arbitrator's contract decision that prohibited the county from privatizing the jail. County commissioners have said the decision was not binding and that they don't have to obey it because doing so would force them to pass a tax increase to pay for jail operations. "This is a Beaver County problem," said Dave Ramsey, the jail guards' SEIU representative. "We're satisfied that this is going to stay before Beaver County judges." Ramsey said he found it insulting that Beaver County tried to get the jail litigation "shipped off to another county."

September 28, 2006 Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Barring further legal action, private enterprise will manage the Beaver County Jail beginning Oct. 30. The county issued a letter Tuesday informing jail workers -- who are all Beaver County employees -- that Civigenics Inc. would be taking over jail operations. The Marlborough, Mass., company operates prisons nationwide, including the jail in Columbiana County, Ohio, which borders Beaver. The announcement was not unexpected, since the county activated its contract with Civigenics June 22, and the contract gave the company 120 days to take over operations. The move has been opposed in court, however, by the local unit of the Service Employees International Union, representing corrections officers at the jail.

August 3, 2006 Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Lawyers representing Beaver County do not think county judges would be biased in the case pitting the county against its jail guards' union. But they do think there is an appearance of the possibility of bias, and are thus asking that the county's seven judges be recused from the case -- meaning it would be handled by a retired judge or one from another county. The county's attorneys -- Joseph Friedman, Kurt Miller and Amy Herne, of Thorp Reed and Armstrong, Pittsburgh -- made the recusal motion yesterday. "Because the county has set aside 10 percent of the general fund budget for the jail, any deviation from that budget will have a direct and material impact on the other operations funded through the general fund, including the courthouse and the court of Common Pleas," the argument for recusal reads. The judge, whoever it eventually is, will play at least a minor role in deciding the fate of the county jail, whether it will continue as a county-run, union-worked facility or whether it will be privately run. The county has signed a contract with a private firm, CiviGenics Texas Inc., to take over jail operations, looking for a savings of about $1.9 million a year. Meanwhile, the county went through arbitration with the guards' union over a contract that expired at the end of 2005, and the arbitration panel signed off on a deal that would keep the union guards in place but would cost the county more. The union regards the arbitration award as binding. The county regards it as advisory, arguing that holding to it would force county commissioners to take legislative action in the form of a tax hike, and that arbitration can't force a county to take legislative action. That's an argument the commissioners set in stone last Thursday, passing a three-page resolution stating the position that the arbitration award is advisory only and empowering the county's attorneys to fight it. The resolution states that county funds are already earmarked for other departments and programs, many of which are mandated by the state or federal government. Reserves need to be protected in case of cash-flow problems, meaning the only way to pay for the arbitration award would be to borrow money, paying it back through higher taxes later. "The commissioners hereby reject the award as an unconstitutional infringement on the legislative powers of the commissioners, and deem the award to be advisory only in nature ..." the resolution reads. The resolution brought a long pause from Commissioner Joe Spanik, a labor leader before his 2003 election. "That's a tough one," he said quietly, before eventually seconding Commissioner Charlie Camp's motion and voting for the resolution. After the meeting, Mr. Spanik said he felt the advisory nature of the award to be up to the courts to determine, though he backed the county's stance. The union, Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, has filed a petition asking the court to enforce the arbitration award, and has also filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

July 20, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County Commissioners are going full-steam ahead with plans to privatize the county jail while the union representing the guards is chugging right back with legal action to stop the move. "We feel we have to go forward with it," commissioners' chairman Dan Donatella said. "There is too huge a savings for the taxpayers for us not to." Meanwhile, the county's contractor, CiviGenics Inc., is interviewing potential guards. In response, the union: On July 10 filed a petition asking the county Common Pleas Court to uphold a favorable arbitration award. On July 12 filed a complaint with the state Labor Relations Board. On Monday filed a motion for an injunction to keep the county from continuing its move to CiviGenics. "The county commissioners want to be above the law, to ignore the arbitration award and do what they want anyway," union steward Tom Trkulja said. The issue has roots going back to late 2004, when the commissioners hired a private firm to manage the county-owned nursing home and started considering the jail as another candidate for privatization. The county put out a request for proposals early in 2005, and CiviGenics, based in Marlborough, Mass., offered a plan in June 2005 that included $1.8 million in annual savings. The county asked the guards' union to offer similar savings in a new contract -- the old labor agreement expired Dec. 31 -- but the contract went to arbitration when the union declined to match the private offer. On June 7, after seeing a preliminary proposal from the arbitrator, the county told the union it would go ahead with the CiviGenics deal. It sent an official letter to that effect June 22, the same day the arbitration award was announced. The union ratified the arbitrator's proposal, which offered about $400,000 in savings. The union -- Local 1168 of the Service Employees International Union -- contends that the arbitration award is legal and binding. "They can't just ignore it," business agent Dave Ramsey said. The county contends that while arbitration can determine what a contract will include, it can't stop the county from simply walking away and going in a different direction. "If an arbiter has that kind of power" -- to force a county into a union contract if it has other options -- "then the contract will run forever, and just keep getting renewed," Mr. Donatella said. In fact, Mr. Donatella said, the dispute could end up touching on some important uncharted territory. Depending what happens, the courts could end up determining whether counties have an automatic right to subcontract work, or if they only have that right when it is specifically allowed in their union contracts. "Many, many, many counties are watching this case," he said. If counties have a general right to employ subcontractors, it would make privatization a lot easier. Beaver County's old union contract said nothing about subcontracting work to a private business. The county contends that since it is not specifically forbidden, it is an option the county has. "That's a management decision," Mr. Donatella said. "I can't believe we don't have the right to manage." The union contends that since the arbitration award does include language on subcontracting -- the award says the county cannot subcontract work during the length of the new, arbitrated union contract -- then the county's hands are tied. "My understanding of the law is that if it isn't in the contract then you have to bargain for it," Mr. Ramsey said, "and that's what we did." He said top SEIU officials, like county officials, are watching the case closely. "They have to decide how they want to use their resources," he said. "I don't know if we're going to have purple shirts" -- the union's trademark color -- "marching in Beaver or not." Meanwhile, CiviGenics has until early September to take over jail operations, barring an injunction, and already is interviewing potential jail guards, including some union members. "Nobody really wants to work for this company," Mr. Trkulja said, "but some of the guys, because of the way their lives are, are going to have to." He said generally people are keeping quiet on the issue. There have been some hard feelings and a little name-calling, but nothing more serious than that, and union leaders are not asking members whether they are doing interviews. "There are mixed emotions down there," he said. "A lot of people are at somewhat of a low point."

July 18, 2006 Beaver Times
The union representing the Beaver County Jail guards filed for an injunction on Monday to stop the county from contracting with CiviGenics to manage the Hopewell Township jail. Service Employees International Union Local 668's motion for an injunction filed in Beaver County Court said allowing the county to contract with the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics would "cause immediate and irreparable harm to the employees," who would "suffer a loss of employment, medical coverage and other benefits ....." SEIU asked the court to grant an injunction "until (the union) has fully exhausted the administrative and judicial remedies." One of those remedies, presumably, is the union's request - filed July 10 - to have the county court force the county commissioners to honor an arbitration decision released by a panel last month. A neutral arbitrator and a union representative on the panel approved the decision, while county Solicitor Myron Sainovich, the panel's third member, rejected it. The union insists the arbitration decision is binding, but the county disagrees. Under the three-year decision, wages would be frozen and the number of full-time jail guards would be reduced, but the county would also be prohibited from privatizing the operation of the facility. The county's attorneys have said the arbitration decision would save the county $450,000 annually for three years, compared to the more than $4 million that would be saved by contracting with CiviGenics through 2008. Asked if the request for an injunction would affect the ongoing privatization process, Sainovich replied, "Not at this point in time." Claudia Lukert, SEIU's Harrisburg attorney, didn't return a message left at her office. County financial administrator Rob Cyphert said the county's contract with CiviGenics calls for the company to be reimbursed up to $125,000 for recruiting expenses "if they don't ultimately end up running the operation at the jail." A temporary halt to the process would not trigger that clause, Cyphert said. CiviGenics asked current guards to submit applications by July 14, and it was scheduled to hold a job fair at Penn State-Beaver today.

June 29, 2006 Beaver Times
How frayed has the relationship between Beaver County and the union representing its jail guards become amid contract arbitration and a move to privatize the jail? So tattered that when Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent Dave Ramsey was told Wednesday that the county commissioners were disappointed in an arbitration decision that saved the county "only" $450,000 annually, this was his reaction: "Tell them to go (expletive) themselves, and you can tell them I said that." Well, then. The relationship won't improve now that an arbitration panel has issued a decision that would prohibit privatization from happening through 2008 and reduce the number of full-time guards, but would also freeze wages for three years and implement a 1 percent employee contribution toward health insurance. That's because county commissioners probably won't accept the deal, which they say falls far short of the estimated $1.9 million the county would save if the jail was outsourced to the Massachusetts company CiviGenics. "It is unlikely that this board is going to accept that," Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said of the decision by arbitrator Marc Winters that was agreed to by SEIU representative Rick Adams. The decision was issued Thursday, only hours after commissioners declared negotiations at an impasse and voted to authorize CiviGenics to start the takeover process. "We dislike just about everything (in the decision), but we're pleased they're not going to have any (privatization) for the life of the contract," Ramsey said. County Solicitor Myron Sainovich - who along with Winters and Adams made up the arbitration panel - rejected the decision. The arbitration decision would not keep the county from privatization, he said.

June 23, 2006 Beaver Times
A Massachusetts company could take over operation of the Beaver County Jail by October after county commissioners on Thursday declared negotiations with the guards at an impasse and unanimously approved privatizing the facility. "This," said Commissioner Joe Spanik, "is the next step forward." County Solicitor Myron Sainovich said officials hope to have CiviGenics in place no later than Oct. 15. Sainovich, who represented the county on the three-member arbitration panel in April, said Butler County arbitrator Marc Winters, the agreed-to neutral party, gave his proposal in May, but the county rejected it. Sainovich said the union rejected the proposal as well, although no union representative would confirm that on Thursday. Rick Adams, a representative for Service Employees International Union Local 668, argued for the jail guards in arbitration; he could not be reached at his Erie office. Sainovich would not release Winters' proposal because it was not a final decision. Winters did not return a telephone message left on Thursday. But Sainovich said late Thursday afternoon that Winters was preparing a revised proposal that would be given to both sides for consideration. Tom Trkulja, the guards' chief union steward, said he was unaware of the commissioners' vote.

June 23, 2006 Tribune-Review
A private company will take over management and operations of the Beaver County Jail by Oct. 15, county commissioners said Thursday. Putting CiviGenics Inc. in charge of the 360-bed jail in Hopewell will save the county $1.9 million in the first year of the deal, commissioners said in a news release. The county will pay CiviGenics $14.6 million over three years to run the jail. The union representing 72 county jail guards fought the move, fearing pay cuts and the loss of benefits, and they questioned private prisons' safety record and officials' rosy savings projections. "You shouldn't be imprisoning people for profit," Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent Dave Ramsey said.

April 20, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The fate of Beaver County's push to privatize the county jail now rests in the hands of Marc Winters, an arbiter from Butler County. Beaver County officials and jail guards testified before a three-member arbitration panel April 12 and last Thursday, making their cases for alternative versions of how the Beaver County Jail should be run. With one of the three panel members selected by the county and one by the guards, however, it is essentially up to the one neutral arbiter, Mr. Winters, to say what should happen. The county has signed a contract with a Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics Inc., to take over management of the jail. The county says it can save up to $1.6 million a year by moving the jail into the private sector. The corrections officers union, working without a contract since Jan. 1, made a counterproposal, but it could not match the savings promised by CiviGenics. The union filed for arbitration after the county signed the CiviGenics contract. Neither guard nor county representatives would talk in detail about the proceedings, which were closed to the public. County financial administrator Rob Cyphert and jail Warden Bill Schouppe were the county's primary witnesses; three corrections officers testified for the union.

March 27, 2006 Beaver Times
The bitter contract negotiations between Beaver County Jail guards and the county will go before an arbitration panel next month at the county courthouse. County solicitor Myron Sainovich said last week that the county and the jail guards' union will square off April 12 and 13 in closed sessions. A three-member panel will hear arguments, but the decision essentially boils down to which side can win over the one neutral arbitrator. Sainovich will sit on the panel as the county's representative, and Rick Adams, a Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent, will represent the guards. Butler County lawyer Marc Winters was picked as the neutral member by the county and the union. Sainovich said the two-day hearing will resemble a trial, with county officials involved in negotiations being called to testify. Although the county is poised to privatize the jail and allow CiviGenics to take over operations, county commissioners have said they would keep the jail under county control if they could get the financial concessions they're looking for. County officials have said the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics could save Beaver County $5 million over the next three years, but jail guards have questioned the validity of those estimates. The county has said the guards have not offered savings anywhere close to what CiviGenics is promising. As the arbitration process winds to a conclusion, the county continues to operate the jail, and guards continue to work under the terms of the contract that expired at the end of 2005.

February 16, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County commissioners yesterday unanimously passed a 2006 budget with no tax increase. The county's millage rate will hold at 17.7 mills, the same as it was in 2005. The projected total budget is roughly $257.5 million for the county's 29 separate funds and includes no major cuts or additions in funding or programs. The budget likely will be amended in the near future depending on the outcome of an arbitrator's decision on a contract between the county and the Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the county jail's roughly 80 guards. The guards' contract expired on Dec. 31, and the two sides are at an impasse after the county decided to contract with a private firm, Civigenics, to run the jail. The county hopes to save upward of $1.5 million a year by switching to a private firm; guards are concerned that they might have to face sizable pay and benefit cuts to retain their jobs with a private company.

January 24, 2006 Beaver Times
Beaver County will pay CiviGenics $14.6 million over the next three years to manage the county jail, and it retains the right to cancel the contract at any time without giving a reason. Peter Argeropulos, CiviGenics' chief operating officer, said the deal is pretty typical of the company's other contracts. Current jail guards have said that private guards make considerably less than the $17.33 per hour the county now pays. Argeropulos said the wage scale would range from $10 per hour for entry-level guards to $14 per hour for guards with seniority. The benefits package would be a dramatic change for guards, who now pay nothing for health insurance. Argeropulos said company employees generally pay about 30 percent of health-insurance costs.

January 19, 2006 Beaver Times
Before the Beaver County Prison Board approved privatizing the Beaver County Jail, guards offered a plan that would have saved the county $1.6 million this year, the same as a private company has promised, a union official said Wednesday. "We tried to save (the county) as much money as we could," said Tom Trkulja, the chief union steward for the jail guards. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said the contract with Massachusetts-based CiviGenics was executed Wednesday. "It's signed, sealed and delivered," he said. Trkulja charged that the county is demanding outrageous concessions from the guards that no other county unions have been offered. He said the guards have been asked to accept a 25 percent cut in hourly wages and pay a 25 percent health insurance premium while other county employees pay 1 percent. The county also wants to slash the number of full-time guards from 55 to 49 and part-time guards from 22 to 15, Trkulja said. Although it doesn't want to hurt other county workers, the union is exploring what bumping rights guards might have so they could move into other county jobs if they get displaced by CiviGenics, Trkulja said.

January 18, 2006 Beaver Times
Nearly two years after the Beaver County Commissioners first talked about privatizing the Beaver County Jail, the county prison board on Tuesday authorized them to contract with a Massachusetts company to run the Hopewell Township facility. "It's a contract that is good for the county," said Rick Towcimak, prison board member and county controller. Under the proposed contract with CiviGenics, the county would save a projected $5 million over the next three years. Most of the savings would come from the county no longer employing jail guards and having to pay their salaries and benefits. Tom Trkulja, the chief union steward for the county's jail guards, said the vote was a surprise to him and he again insisted that privatization would only create problems for the county and its residents. "Taxpayers are going to lose on this," Trkulja said. "We're all going to lose." Towcimak said he was initially skeptical about the savings expected from CiviGenics, but he is now convinced the figures are realistic. Also, he said the public would not be endangered by having a private company operate the jail, something the current jail guards have repeatedly warned about. "We've seen things happen down at the jail now, and it's not private," said Towcimak. Last month, a jail sergeant was fired for mistakenly releasing an accused child molester, the third time the sergeant had wrongly released an inmate in 2005. Towcimak said he had also received assurances from CiviGenics that the "vast majority" of jail guards would be offered jobs at comparable wages. Trkulja bristled at those comments, saying the union has been told that each full-time guard would have to accept an $18,000 pay cut.

January 1, 2006 AP
Beaver County says it is prepared to hire a private management firm to run the county jail, which officials say would save the county $5 million over three years. But the union representing the guards, whose contract expired Saturday, says it hopes a new proposal will save the county enough money to fend off privatization and ultimately save most of their jobs. "We're making every attempt we can to come up with ways to save them money, said Tom Trkulja, the union steward for the jail's 70 full-time and part-time guards. CiviGenics of Massachusetts has said it could save the county about $1.6 million a year over what it pays its guards currently - a projection disputed by the union. If CiviGenics is hired, the company would have the option of keeping the existing staff, but Trkulja said about 80 percent of the guards would probably not take the jobs because of the lower pay. Although negotiators for two sides are scheduled to meet Jan. 9, the county approved a budget last week that includes the $1.6 million annual savings expected if CiviGenics is hired.

December 27, 2005 Beaver Times
Under Beaver County's preliminary 2006 budget that commissioners should approve on Thursday, there won't be a county property tax increase for a second consecutive year. Commissioners are prepared to outsource the management of the jail to the Massachusetts company CiviGenics for a projected savings of nearly $5 million over the next three years, including at least $1.6 million in 2006. Savings achieved through no longer having to pay benefits could push those figures higher. Health coverage accounts for nearly $760,000, according to the county's 2005 budget, with dental and vision costing an additional $55,000. Taking all costs into account, the total savings from outsourcing could easily exceed $2 million annually. Service Employees International Union Local 668, the union representing county jail guards, has disputed the numbers contained in CiviGenics' proposal. And union officials have also been reviewing the contract proposal in an effort to submit their own proposal. The union's contract expires Dec. 31, and both sides have been negotiating. Donatella said commissioners expect significant savings from the jail whether they're provided by the union or CiviGenics. "We'll be more than happy to keep (the jail) in-house as long as the savings are there," Donatella said.

December 15, 2005 Pittsburgh Post Gazette
It is, essentially, a tale of 2 mills. If the Beaver County commissioners get a Massachusetts firm to run the county jail, or if they strike an equivalent deal with the union representing jail workers, they expect to pass a budget with no tax increase. If they keep running the jail under the terms of the existing union contract, they expect to pass a budget with a tax increase of about 2 mills. They plan to approve a preliminary budget Dec. 29, including the projected savings under the contract with CiviGenics, Inc., and then hunker down to see what happens next. If the union makes an offer with equivalent savings, they'll pass the preliminary budget essentially unchanged. If the commissioners sign with CiviGenics, they expect the union to go to court, seeking an injunction delaying the contract. If the court grants an injunction, the commissioners would be forced to continue operating the jail under the terms of the existing union contract, and would then pass a budget with a tax increase to pay for it. Dave Ramsey, business agent for Local 668 SEIU of the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, said the union would be coming up with a counter-offer, but that it would not match the one from CiviGenics. "We are going to make a proposal to them that includes enough people to actually man all the duty stations," he said, labeling the private proposal a "ghost offer" based on hiring and staffing assumptions that fly in the face of reality. Mr. Ramsey said the county was having trouble hiring corrections officers now, leading him to doubt whether CiviGenics can do so at lower wages. "The prospects of this proposal from CiviGenics being viable are not very high," he said.

November 6, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
Beaver County is an unlikely place for a conservative revolution. Democrats hold a two-to-one registration advantage, have dominated county government for decades, own the state legislative seats. The steel mills are gone, but a blue collar is still a badge of honor and unions remain a political force. Inside the offices of the county commissioners, though, the flag of private enterprise is flying high -- high enough to draw repeated protests from local union officials. Over the last year, the commissioners have brought in new management for the county nursing home, outsourced services like printing, nursing home laundry and lawn care, and named a private restaurant to run the courthouse lunchroom as a for-profit entity, not to mention two rounds of layoffs, the first two in county history. And they're in the process of making two larger moves toward privatization: They solicited private companies to build and manage a regional juvenile detention center in the county and they have negotiated a tentative agreement for a private company to take over the county jail. The moves have local unions howling. "Our number one concern is for safety," said Ed Rowan, a correctional officer at the county jail and safety officer for Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. "That's a big issue when it comes to private prisons. They have less training and lower wages." There is an even larger issue, though, that has the union's state headquarters on high alert as well. To put it simply, if this can happen here, it can happen anywhere. Beaver's move toward private management at the jail would be even more revolutionary, though it's not a done deal -- the union's contract runs through Dec. 31, and the county cannot make a change until then. The county does, however, have a basic agreement in place with CiviGenics Inc., of Marlborough, Mass. The bottom line is $1.8 million in promised savings annually, with perhaps another $600,000 in annual pension and benefit savings on top of it. If that happens, Beaver will be only the second county in Pennsylvania with a privately run jail -- the other is Delaware County, just south of Philadelphia. The protests of unions has been backed by a vociferous anti-private-jail lobby, which has Web sites and publications offering thousands of pages of horror stories and studies disputing the industry's claims of safety and savings. And in fact, Delaware has run into some recent problems, with five deaths in five months, sparking an internal investigation and one by the county district attorney's office. The county and jail operator The Geo Group Inc. are named in a $500,000 lawsuit by the family of a man who died in the jail of a drug overdose in April.

October 14, 2005 Beaver County Times
Beaver County Jail guards picketed the courthouse again on Thursday to protest the privatization of the jail, and a union official gave the county commissioners a petition bearing more than 1,400 names opposing the move. County residents are "beginning to become aware of what's happening, and they don't like it," said Dave Ramsey, the business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 668. Ramsey told the commissioners at their regular meeting that he noticed several resolutions on last month's agenda that addressed increases in contracts. He warned the commissioners that they'd be doing the same with CiviGenics if they outsource the jail to the Massachusetts company. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella didn't appeared swayed by the petition or the 1,472 signatures.

September 29, 2005 Beaver County Times
Beaver County Commissioner Joe Spanik is between the proverbial rock and a hard place as county officials inch closer and closer to privatizing the Beaver County Jail. "Absolutely, there's pressure," said Spanik, a longtime labor official who was elected in 2003 with the support of unions. As the move to privatize the jail in Hopewell Township picks up steam, Spanik has become the sounding board for not only jail guards, but local and state union officials who oppose outsourcing the jail's management to Massachusetts-based CiviGenics. Spanik found himself in an awkward position recently when the Beaver County Central Labor Council, on which Spanik sits, approved a resolution opposing privatization. Spanik abstained from the vote approving the resolution.

September 23, 2005 Beaver County Times
The debate over privatizing the Beaver County Jail intensified Thursday with jail guards picketing at the county courthouse and commissioners saying they might hire a public relations firm to counter union criticism. Prior to the commissioners' meeting at 10 a.m., about 30 people - mostly guards, their families and other union colleagues - carried signs and passed out fliers protesting the possible hiring of CiviGenics, based in Marlborough, Mass., to manage and staff the jail. Standing with other protesters along Market Street, Tom Trkulja, the guards' union steward, reiterated his stance that a purported $5 million in savings over three years is being exaggerated. Not only would hidden costs ultimately cost taxpayers more in the long run, but private jail guards are not as dedicated as public ones, he argues, which would compromise the safety of guards, inmates and residents. During the commissioners' meeting, Ramsey presented Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella with a resolution from the Beaver County Labor Council opposing privatization and asking that the county disclose CiviGenics' record, including its operation of the Penn Pavilion minimum-security jail in New Brighton. Donatella said the board is considering hiring a public relations firm that would direct the county's response to the union's attacks on privatization. "We need to show the taxpayer where we're coming from," he said. Donatella said a public-relations campaign might include pamphlets, radio spots and newspaper ads. "We're going to present the facts," he said, "and we'll let the public decide."

September 22, 2005 Pittsburgh Post Gazette
For nearly a year, the Beaver County commissioners have been talking about hiring a private firm to run the county jail. In that same time, the union representing corrections officers at the jail has been making dire predictions about the impact of such a move. And last night, the Beaver County Central Labor Council told the commissioners at their meeting that they too object to the county prison board negotiating a contract with CiviGenics Inc., the Marlborough, Mass. company that submitted the sole proposal to manage the jail. All three commissioners serve on the prison board. The labor council said it opposes "any scheme that risks the health and safety of all [county] residents by contraction with out-of-state contractors who don't care about Beaver County and whose sole concern is taking precious taxpayer dollars out of the community." The council claims CiviGenics' projected savings of $1.8 million per year in operating costs is vastly overstated, partly because it's based on a jail budget larded with overtime. The council also said CiviGenics' numbers do not account for increased costs from a higher number of escapes and assaults they expect from a lower-paid corrections staff. But the "No. 1 concern is safety," said Ed Rowan, a corrections officer and safety officer for Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. "That's the big issue when it comes to a private prison," he said. "You have people with less training making lower wages.