By Tony Buhr

The Wenatchee World

WENATCHEE — The city of Wenatchee faces some challenges with snow removal with the loss of inmate work crews.

The Chelan County Regional Justice Center suspended its trustee program in November because it doesn’t have enough correctional officers to process and search the worker inmates as they come and go for jobs.

Worker inmates were also moved out of the jail annex, where they were housed, and into the main jail. The closure occurred because the main jail needed additional staff, Jail Director Bill Larson said Tuesday.

Four deputies and one corporal operate the annex and were moved temporarily into the main building. Several correctional officers are out for reasons such as sick leave, injury, military leave or administrative leave.

“I don’t want to keep the annex closed longer than I have to,” Larson said. “It was because we’re in crisis mode here.”

The annex may be reopened sometime in January, he said.

The closure, though, leaves the city of Wenatchee in a difficult situation, said Rob Jammerman, Wenatchee Public Works director.

“When we get the (work crews), we definitely enjoy it and use them,” Jammerman said. “And it is beneficial for them. They get out and are working and doing something helpful.”

City employees will have to do tasks like shoveling sidewalks or emptying garbage bins that would usually fall to inmate trustees, Jammerman said.

It is unclear how much it will cost the city to replace those trustees, said Erin Kelly, Public Works operations manager. The city is considering contracting with a company or hiring seasonal workers.

Right now, public works employees are doing those tasks instead. But some staff are required to monitor and manage inmates when they are available.

Parks Maintenance Supervisor Rob Richards is the coordinator who usually manages the trustees. He’s been working with them for close to 20 years. The trustees he deals with are low-risk inmates, usually people in custody for traffic offenses or unpaid tickets.

“Well, depending on the day they could be getting garbage, leaves. We use them at the cemetery three times a year trimming around headstones,” Richards said. “There are like 20,000 headstones. They assist with that.”

Jail Director Larson submitted a $1.3 million business proposal to the county commission in October suggesting some changes. The proposal said that staffing at the jail was an issue and recommended adding 15 new positions.

Sgt. Sean Larsen said, during an early November meeting, closing the annex did pose some life and safety issues in the jail.

Some of the inmates in the annex had to be moved into segregation units for their safety. Meaning other, more dangerous inmates, needed to be moved into general population.

“And that is problematic because once you start to overfill the jail then problems arise,” Larsen said. “We’ve already had a couple of fights in the general population units.”