Yazoo County Youth Court Judge Betsy Cotton welcomes a new juvenile detention center administrator with the arrival of Dean Johnson. Along with his arrival, she shared with county leaders that the center’s billing process with housing out-of-county juveniles has been corrected.
Cotton admits that the billing process under the former center administration resulted in about $326,000 not being properly billed out in a timely manner. She said she was not aware of the issue until a meeting with County Administrator Donna Kraft and former supervisor Cobie Collins last August.
“Not sending it out efficiently means it is not coming back in efficiently,” Cotton said, during the Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. “I was under the impression that all the billing had been sent out, and it had not. I was not happy about that, but that’s a side note.”
Cotton said Johnson joined the detention center about a month ago after the departure of former administrator Jason Bright. She also added that the center’s administrative assistant and a jailer are also no longer with the facility.
“We have had some issues at the detention center, which some of you I am sure are aware of on the financial side of things,” Cotton said to the county board. “After those individuals left, we spent some time going through the files, trying to get everything ready. (Johnson) has come in and hit the ground running. The whole attitude of the place has changed where everyone is expected to do their job, and they will do it.”
Cotton said one of the major issues with the center’s prior administration concerned billing. The local center houses juveniles primarily from Madison, Humphreys and Sunflower counties, adding that Yazoo County is one of nine detention centers in the state that houses juveniles from other counties.
“The July billing was finally sent out in August of last year,” Cotton said. “Since then, we have sent billing for $325,500 for the housing of these kids for these out-of-county folks.”
Cotton said, of the $325,500 billing, the local center has collected $136,250.
“Part of that was because the billing was not done as I expressly told them to do it,” she said. “I wanted them to send billing out each month…and they weren’t doing that. In January right before Bright’s exit, he handed me August through November, all at one time.”
Cotton said Johnson has completed the January and February billing since then.
“We expect that we will start getting that money anytime now because they have to go to their boards just like we do,” Cotton said. “From here forward, the billing will be done a month at a time, sent out every month. As I explained to Mr. Bright and Mrs. Johnson, it’s not fair to these other counties to hit them with a $100,000 bill suddenly out of nowhere when it could have been sent monthly like it should have been.”
Cotton said the state had also recently completed its audit at the facility, adding that a few building improvements will be made to remain in compliance. With those improvements, which included painting, the center currently houses about seven juveniles as those needed improvements are being addressed.
Cotton said she is pleased with the direction the center is heading under its new leadership with Johnson’s arrival. She said teachers feel safer with the current jailers in charge of transferring the juveniles to and from classes. And Johnson has implemented more positive behavior rewards among the juveniles.
“It has provided rewards of some variety as opposed to always punishing, punishing, punishing, punishing, punishing,” she said. “That has been pretty effective.”
Cotton added that Johnson has also improved the center’s inventory control.
“We would like to still add on to the detention center, but after that meeting in August, I understand now what our problem on our side was in regard to the budgeting and the money,” Cotton added. “Clearly from the $325,000 in the billing, there’s plenty of money to be brought in by housing. And we are one of the cheaper facilities that house kids right now.”
