Tarrant County commissioners have ended a contract early with a private jail staffing company that was meant to help with Tarrant County Jail's understaffing issues.
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office requested commissioners terminate the contract with Recana Recruiting and Staffing Solutions nearly 7 months after commissioners approved the contract — which was meant to last two years.
Reasons for ending the contract weren't made public during commissioners court meeting. The company also declined to comment to KERA News on Thursday.
The topic was briefly discussed after a closed discussion between commissioners, but was cut short after Commissioner Alisa Simmons tried to play video footage from last October's meeting when the contract was approved. Commissioner Manny Ramirez called it into question, and O'Hare seconded it. The meeting ended promptly after that. Commissioners Matt Krause and Roderick Miles, Jr. were absent.
"Clearly, they are embarrassed by their support of this firm and the $1.1 million in waste," Simmons told KERA News. "As they should be."
Simmons said 35 jailers were staffed through Recana and was worried the jail would lose all those employees now that the contract was terminated. At the time the contract was approved, the county guaranteed placement for a minimum of 50 jailers from Recana, according to the county's request for proposals.
Robbie Hoy, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, told KERA News in an email there were 134 vacancies at the county jail as of May 14. He declined to comment on how that number will change once the contract is dissolved.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn told CBS News in February the county jail was short staffed by nearly 180 jailers. There were 176 vacancies when the contract was approved last October, according to county jail chief Shannon Herklotz.
The county is expected to pay nearly $1.2 million as part of the contract. County staff told Simmons at the meeting about half a million has already been paid out.
When KERA News asked what led to the request from the sheriff's office to end the contact, spokesperson Robbie Hoy said "the court voted to cancel the contract for convenience, which is allowed per the contract without any cause needed."
The sheriff's office last month declined an interview with KERA News when requesting an update on the contract, including how many jailers have been hired through Recana and if there was any relief to jailers working overtime.
"We can report the Recana employees have integrated well into our agency and are proving to be a great resource to support our staffing needs," Laurie Passman, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said in an email to KERA News.
The contract is expected to wind down within the next 30 days.
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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