CLAYTON — A St. Louis County Council committee on Thursday agreed to recommend spending at least $3 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to provide pay raises for nearly 300 jail corrections officers and case workers for the next two years.
Three members of the council’s Justice, Health and Welfare committee — Democrats Lisa Clancy, Rita Heard Days and Shalonda Webb — said they would expedite a bill Tuesday to raise hourly wages at the jail by $3 an hour — more than jail’s current $2 an hour request — an amount jail officials said they could sustain beyond 2024, when federal relief funds are no longer available. The committee’s fourth member, Republican Tim Fitch, was absent.
“We need a solution that is going to sustain us, and that is not just going to be a Band-Aid,†said Webb, committee chair.
The hearing followed riveting testimony to the full County Council on Tuesday by Acting Jail Director Scott Anders, corrections officers and jail reform advocates, who spoke about how staffing issues are affecting safety. On Nov. 10, an officer was badly beaten by an inmate, the second such attack since October. The jail, which has currently has a daily inmate population of about 900, currently has about 80 staff vacancies — about 25% of the total number of positions.
People are also reading…
The jail’s request was for $3.4 million of the $193 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds the county is receiving. That would pay for a $2 an hour raise for 297 officers and case workers through 2024, raising starting salaries from $36,847 to $40,997. Anders said the pay increase would make the jail to be competitive with other jails in the region: St. Charles County pays $39,467; St. Clair County in Illinois pays $45,425.
The seven-member council is likely to approve the pay increase to replace an earlier bill, approved unanimously in August, that appropriated $1.9 million in ARPA funds to provide $500 lump-sum “milestone†increases for workers after each 90 days on the job.
That bill was the council’s response to former jail director Doug Burris’ request for $5 million in ARPA funds to raise hourly wages, which he first made in April. At the time, the jail was down 45 officers, but Burris’ request languished for weeks as the council debated the measure.
The council compromise was designed to provide incentives to keep officers from quitting. But Deloitte, the accounting firm advising the county on federal regulatory compliance, said the lump-sum payments that were proposed would be an ineligible use of the federal relief money.
On Thursday, Damon Armeni, Deloitte senior manager, told the committee that an hourly increase would qualify because under federal regulations that allow hourly premium pay for “essential workers,†or full-time, hourly staff working in public health and safety positions that pose increased health risks due to close contact with multiple people.
The pay increase also would reduce overtime payments, Anders told the committee. So far this year, the jail has paid roughly $2 million in overtime, up from $1 million through all of 2020. Anders vowed that he could cut the costs by an estimated $700,000 with even a portion of the 80 vacancies filled.
“I could do this very quickly; we just need to stop the number of staff who are leaving to other agencies,†he said.
Anders and Chris Grahn Howard, the council’s budget policy director, said a recent financial audit of the jail had identified about $1 million in state and municipal reimbursements the jail has missed over the last two years that can be recouped for housing those detainees. Anders said he also plans to reinstate a $1.8 million federal contract to house federal prisoners that Burris cancelled earlier this year amid overpopulation.
Grahn-Howard said the moves would total about $3 million more in annual revenue to the jail. That could fund a $3 hourly pay increase beyond 2024, he said.
Safety concerns
Webb and Clancy also grilled Anders over what measures Anders has taken to ensure safety at the facility in the short-term.
Anders, who was named acting director last month after joining the facility as deputy director in July, said he had required two officers to each “pod,†or housing unit of about 70 detainees, up from a longstanding practice of one officer per pod. Anders also said that jail supervisors and employees other than officers were taking turns monitoring pods. And he had launched new training programs.
He also pushed back against reports that an inmate had pulled off the attacker on Nov. 10. Other officers were there to render aid within 40 seconds, he said.
“We were there quickly,†Anders said.
Anders is the fifth interim director of the jail in the last three years, since a series of inmate deaths from untreated medical conditions in early 2019.
The Rev. Philip Duvall, a civil rights activist and outspoken member of the Justice Services Advisory Board, said Anders was more proactive than any of the past jail directors. Duvall chaired the advisory board from 2019 until September 2020, when he stepped down from chairmanship for health reasons.
“He has been more receptive in these short four months,†Duvall said, “than the previous directors I’ve had to deal with.â€