Taft approves contract to reopen CCF, waits for word from Los Angeles

The Taft City Council voted 5-0 to approve a 5-year contract with Los Angeles County Monday night that, if approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, will re-open the city's Community Correctional Facility in less than a month.

The CCF was closed at the end of November 2011 when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, under the guidelines of AB109, removed the state inmates from the CCF after housing them here and at other CCFs for two decades.

“These are historic times for us,” Mayor Randy Miller said. “Happily, we are back in the CCF business.”

Several city officials travelled to Los Angeles Tuesday for the L.A. County meeting.

If approved, the CCF could be open and running at 50 percent capacity on Sept. 10.

It will add about 50 jobs to local workforce, save the city thousands of dollars in unemployment costs it has paid out to CCF staff paid off in 2011 and bring-much needed revenue to the city.

The agreement could cost L.A. County up to $75 million over the lifetime of the contract, but will be a considerable savings over the cost of housing the inmates themselves.

The City Council called it a plus for both sides

“It's a win-win situation,” Councilman Orchel Krier said. “It gets our employees off unemployment and back to work.”

“Both the County of Los Angeles and the City of Taft have worked very hard to develop a contract we are comfortable with,” said Councilman Paul Linder, who made the motion to approve the contract. “It's going to be nice to get our people back to work and put that facility back to work.”

“We think we got a good contract,” Miller said. “We are happy on our end.”

The agreement contains several provisions that protect the city, including, a one-time payment of $475,800 to cover start up costs for the CCF and a monthly contribution from Los Angeles County into an unemployment reserve.