If the Seward County Detention Center’s security camera issues cannot be corrected soon, county commissioners said they may have to board current inmates with other counties.
Discussion of the cameras was not on the commission’s agenda April 21, but came up as the commissioners completed their routine sharing of their individual activities during the previous week.
Sheriff Mike Vance was not at the commissioners’ meeting, but said on April 23 that sending inmates out of the county may not be necessary.
“Hopefully it does not get to that point,” Vance said. “We may have to move some inmates around so they are in the areas where cameras work. I hope we get this fixed before we have to go to a complete shut down.”
On April 14, Detention Center Director Sara Stenger and Deputy Detention Center Director Andrew Truslow told commissioners the jail’s security cameras are periodically failing – once for as long as 44 hours – and the entire facility’s system that includes about 100 cameras needs to be updated at an estimated cost of $339,000.
Stenger said 25 cameras are in the jail and at one point, only five – 20% – of them were operating in the jail. She noted the security issue could jeopardize county compliance with jail standards.
The cameras are at the end of their anticipated lifespan of 10 years, the county has been told. They were installed when the Seward County Justice Center was constructed in 2017.
Commissioners said on April 14 the county’s Inheritance Fund could be used to pay for the cameras but moving forward, the jail should factor in replacement of other components of the camera system in the coming years and replacement of the camera system again 10 years from now.
There was also discussion of housing inmates for other counties to add up to $35,000 every six months to the jail’s potential revenues, which has not been done for a time due to staffing levels.
But the discussion on April 21 turned that option around, with commissioners thinking instead about spending that kind of money to board Seward County inmates elsewhere.
“We are running on a skeleton system and with months to plan and connect materials, we need to make a move and we need to make a move pretty quick,” Commissioner Scott Pekarek said.
Commissioner Raegan Hain said sending inmates to other facilities will be costly.
“We cannot afford to ship out our inmates to other jails,” she said, asking whether jail staff would still be retained and paid when there are no inmates or potentially laid off.
“You are not going to get them back,” Hain said
She noted the jail has had staffing issues, but is in a good staffing position now.
“I do not see why we are not being proactive and at least contacting another vendor,” she said.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said county staff said looking at another vendor for cameras may be more costly than upgrading the Accurate system they now have, but no matter which route the county takes, “it is going to take a long time.”
Pekarek and Ahmic said they participated in conversations with the jail director and the current vendor since the previous commissioners’ meeting.
The vendors “said 100%” that they would be able to fix the current problems, Ahmic said. But that was not the case.
Pekarek asked Deputy County Attorney Barbara Armstead if she could draft a letter to be sent to the county’s current camera software vendor to assure they are complying with their contractual commitment to the county.
“But they will say they told us back in August that it was time to update,” Pekarek said.
In a later interview, Ahmic said the sheriff is responsible for hiring the jail director and overseeing the jail, not the commissioners.
Vance said on April 23 that he had talked to one of the commissioners and that he has been contacting other jails to see what camera systems they are using.
“When the Justice Center was built, everybody was using this contractor,” he said.
The sheriff’s office got quotes on replacing the system, as the commissioners discussed, but Vance said it was difficult to get a full quote because it was initially unclear how much of the system needs to be replaced.
He said he was told part of the issue came with the software update from Windows 7 to Windows 11, but replacing the county’s router and server did not help.
“We tried several Band-aids that they thought would work and get us through the year,” he said. “We know we are going to have to replace the whole system. Right now we are trying to figure out the cheapest way to replace it with a good product.
“We do not have a choice. We have to fix it or we are out of compliance. We do not want to be out of compliance with jail standards.”
Vance and Ahmic have said the jail staff has done a good job dealing with the situation and looking for fixes.
He said the discussion about jail cameras also reflects the timelines his department faces with vehicle cameras and those worn by deputies on their uniforms.
