Staff recommends Council approve the Memorandum of Understanding with Yellowstone County for the short-term detention facility.

A lack of incarceration space in the Yellowstone County Detention facility continues to cause significant problems for safety in our community.  The improvement of safety remains the City's top priority.  In a letter dated November 7, 2023, the City proposed to the County that it would contribute $500,000 to construct a temporary/modular detention facility to hold misdemeanor offenders for 72 hours until they are seen by a judge. This was considered a temporary solution to bridge the gap until a permanent jail expansion could be pursued. The County responded in a letter dated January 30, 2024, with a counter-proposal. Due to liability and insurance requirements, a modular/temporary facility was not appropriate, and therefore the County asked the City to contribute $3 million for the County to construct an addition to the existing detention facility, which was expected to cost approximately $6 million. As a result, the City agreed to contribute the value of approximately $2.7 million.  $2 million in cash over three fiscal years plus a credit for prior over payments from the city to the county for incarceration fees totaling over $700,000.  We have attached the correspondence between the city and county throughout this discussion. 

As a result, members of Council and City staff met with County representatives to discuss the details to be included in a memorandum of understanding. A tentative agreement was reached, and the County Commissioners considered and approved an MOU on April 23, 2024. Attached is a final letter from the County describing the agreement and the process the County is undertaking. Also attached is the MOU for final review and consideration and the preliminary design. 

I want to highlight two key issues in the MOU.  The first references what will be built  and states that the facility "does not unreasonably deviate from the preliminary designs previously presented by Shutz Foss Architects, PC.  When completed the facility is anticipated to include two floors and have a capacity of over 90 inmates.  The second is in reference to the "minimum of 10 beds for use of the City for stand alone city offenses averaged over a 24 hr period."  It is also important to understand that the overwhelming majority of individuals who are incarcerated have violated state statutes and therefore the assurance of 10 beds in the MOU is only for arrests that only include municipal/city infractions.  Most commonly the municipal infractions are open container, public urination/defecation, alcohol in the park, littering and animal control violations.   

The proposed project will primarily hold low-risk offenders who pose a risk to the community but have not been charged with a crime severe enough to warrant detention in the limited space currently available at the main detention facility.  Most inmates will likely be released on a bond and/or GPS monitoring after seeing a judge and some remanded to the main detention facility.

City of Billings and Yellowstone County residents

City Council may:

• Approve; or,
• Not Approve

The first payment of $500,000 will be provided to the County on May 30, 2024. Two subsequent payments of $750,000 will be provided in the following fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Additionally, the debt the County owes to the City, which exceeds $700,000 for previous overcharging of daily occupancy costs of inmates shall be forgiven and eliminated. Further, the City will not be charged for daily occupancy costs of inmates in the short-term facility during the term of the MOU.