Salina ? As the number of prisoners and cost of food keep growing, Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski is looking to outsource the jail’s food service.

“We have been looking at this for a half-dozen years,” Kochanowski said. “We are finally going to get something done.”

Kochanowski hopes the county can save at least $50,000 to $60,000 a year by hiring a contractor to provide jail meals.

Last year, the county spent $238,841 on food, supplies and salaries to prepare 191,958 meals. That’s an average of $1.24 per meal to feed an average of 175 prisoners three meals a day.

“That is a lot of meals,” Kochanowski said. “It will probably be higher this year because we are over the maximum amount of inmates, and it keeps growing.”

Outsourcing food service

To save $50,000 per year, a contractor would have to provide the meals for about 98 cents each.

Kochanowski said he has talked to representatives of other counties that already outsource their food service. Both McPherson and Ottawa counties contract for jail food service.

“It has been a break even for us,” said Rick Witte, McPherson County administrator. “The only thing we don’t have to worry about is an employee. There has been no cost savings to the county over the long term.”

Witte said McPherson County pays by the meal under its contract with CDM Food Services, based in Sioux Falls, S.D. The cost is $3.55 a meal for up to 30 meals, and $3.18 a meal for over 30 meals. Witte said CDM gives further price reductions for higher numbers of meals.

“We don’t handle as many prisoners as Saline County does,” Witte said. “I don’t know if it would be cost savings for them or not.”

On Thursday, Kochanowski expected jail staff to serve between 640 and 650 meals. Based on last year’s average cost of $1.24 a meal, the meals served to inmates on that day would have cost Saline County between $793.60 and $806.

Kitchen jobs in danger

While Kochanowski hopes to save a considerable amount of money, there is uncertainty for Connie Corby, food service coordinator, and the trusties who help cook the meals.

For the past 11 years, Corby has managed the kitchen, planned the meals for inmates and taught trusties to cook for the rest of the population. With the possible outsourcing, her position could be in jeopardy.

Corby is a certified dietary manager who plans meals based on religious and health needs.

Kochanowski said he could not guarantee Corby would be able to stay on at the jail if a company takes over. He said it would be up the company.

Corby said she has already been contacted by a company that is bidding on the proposal.

Another group in danger of losing their jobs are the jail trusties who prepare food.

The trusties are nonviolent offenders with good disciplinary records who perform work inside and outside the jail. Kochanowski said trusties saved the county $248,608, at minimum wage, in labor last year, including for work in the kitchen.

“It gives them a chance to get out of their cell and do something,” Kochanowski said. “It is very popular with them.”

Corby uses eight to 10 trusties. She said the trusties cook all of the meals.

Kochanowski said the trusties work hard and would be made available to any company, if the company wished to use them.

“But, if they say, ‘We are going to have a cook here, they are going to cook and set up the meals,’ that is up to them,” Kochanowski said.

Searching for a contractor

Kochanowski said his office has already sent out proposals and hopes to have a company selected in October.

The search for a contractor is nationwide and Kochanowski said at least one group has already toured the jail’s kitchen.

Kochanowski said he does not know what to expect from the proposals, but each company will have to guarantee it will have a person at the jail when every meal is prepared and served.

“Right now, if Connie is gone on vacation or sick, we have to have a corrections officer in there,” Kochanowski said. “It is too expensive to pull officers off of other assignments. There is too much to get done and I need more people as it is.”

Witte said McPherson County has only seen minimal savings in personnel from working with CDM, which now employs the kitchen workers.

Kochanowski said the county has already implemented other changes to the kitchen that have helped lower costs.

“We are saving almost $10,000 by picking our bread up locally,” Kochanowski said. “We have some inmates and a maintenance worker go pick it up rather than have it delivered.”

Kochanowski said the county will also save $3,500 to $5,000 annually by not serving coffee.