County races through meeting to give jail COVID relief funds
75% of Oklahoma County's CARES Act money will go to jail trust
Oklahoma County commissioners pushed through f i nal approval t o provide $ 34 million i n CARES Act funding to the county jail for COVID-19 expenses despite protests during an unusually quick and tense meeting Wednesday.
The decision was the focus of a public forum later in the day where community members slammed Commissioner Kevin Calvey's handling of the meeting and the allocation generally.
Calvey began the meeting, and in just over one minute he had pushed through the controversial vote, which has been protested heavily over the last week by demonstrators who say the majority of the county's CARES Act dollars should be used for more than just the jail.
Commissioner Carrie Blum er t' s representative asked Calvey to wait, saying he had a question and had not had time to vote.
But Calvey closed the vote, letting the item pass 2- 0. Commissioner Brian Ma ugh an joined Calvey in voting in favor of the allocation.
Over 30 demonstrators were sitting in the meeting room, and once it was clear what had happened, many began to shout.
“Are you kidding me? You are not going to take public comment before you assign these federal dollars?” one man said. Many more shouted expletives and said what had happened was "ridiculous."
By this time, B lu me rt had arrived at the meeting. Calvey, who is chairing the Board of County Commissioners currently, skipped over several other items on Wednesday' s agenda before abruptly ending the meeting after a total of five minutes.
“At this point, given outburst sand things of that nature that are going on, and to prevent further trauma to our staff and deputies, I move to adjourn this meeting ,”
Calvey said.
Calvey left the room, but demonstrators stayed to express their frustrations to Maughan and Blumert.
“I was not expecting that to happen today,” Blumert said. “He wanted to push the vote through as quickly as possible because everyone in that room knows where I stand.”
Blumert has been clear that she does not support giving so much of the county's CARES dollars directly to the jail.
The county jail is currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak, and two inmates have died after testing positive for the virus.
The Oklahoma County Jail Trust, which would receive the $34 million, has not provided a detailed list of how it would spend the money.
Calvey later said the demonstrators were“bullies” and that he believed the vote happened with “ample time.” He also said the meeting followed normal procedures, but county meetings typically do not run in this manner.
The county received roughly $47 million in funding from the CARES Act — the federal government' s C OVID -19 relief package — and up until this point had only spent a small fraction of the money because of disagreements over how it could and should be spent.
Last week, the county approved $1.5 million for eviction mitigation, as well as an additional $6 million to the jail trust for bonuses and building maintenance. The sheriff's office and the county's juvenile bureau each received $1 million for bonuses, as well.
Blumert's office has wanted to spend funds on other programs like nonprofit loans, medical expenses and education.
Calvey's idea to give the jail trust over 75% of the county's total CARES dollars was first introduced last week, to the shock of several other elected officials.
Officials discussed the idea at length during a Budget Board meeting last Thursday, and though there were legal concerns because the federal dollars have to be spent carefully, the board ultimately recommended giving the jail trust the money.
“No one else will fund our jail for us,” Calvey said after Wednesday's meeting. “As far as the other things that were proposed for this money, other governmental entities are already doing those things.”
So far, protests over the money have been held at two commissioners' meetings and an Oklahoma County Jail Trust meeting.
“You're going to take COVID relief money to fix a problem you all have had for years?” one demonstrator said this week. “That is not how it works. I am sick and tired of you all asking for money. And now that we've got relief money, you take it and put it where you want it to go.”
Since public comment still has not been reinstated at county meetings after it was discontinued because of COVID- 19, a public forum to discuss the CARES allocation was held by the jail trust Wednesday afternoon.
More than 20 speakers addressed the trust and expressed their frustrations, demanding that Calvey resign from the trust, that the trust reject the CARES dollars and that public comment be reinstated at all future meetings.
“We are not bullies,” one woman said at the forum, referring to Calvey's earlier comments. “We are citizens of Oklahoma County, and we refuse to let this corruption continue.”
Reinstating public comment was on Wednesday's agenda, but it was deferred since the meeting ended early. Officials didn't have a clear answer as to why it has taken the county so long to find a way to reinstate public comment.
Regardless, at a commissioners' meeting last Friday, over 50 protesters showed up and were allowed to speak after chanting and yelling.