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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 5:53 PM Monday, December 28, 2009

HAMILTON — Butler County officials say they may save $1 million annually after bidding out a jail contract that has gone to a local agency for years with no bid.

Commissioners awarded a contract Monday, Dec. 28, to Aramark Correctional Services to provide food to prisoners at the county’s jails for roughly 92 cents per meal.

The contract is estimated to cost the county roughly $1 million a year, or half what current contractor Resolutions, Community Solutions, bid for the same work.

The move is the first in a series of contracts bid out this year worth a total of more than $6 million in work currently done by Hamilton-based Resolutions.

The county’s arrangement with Resolutions came under fire when some worried that the work — running all facets of the county’s three jails except for security, which is provided by the sheriff — was given to Resolutions with no bid.

Commissioners also officially terminated their agreement with Resolutions Monday, effective Feb. 15.

Throughout the year, the county closed the jail owned by Resolutions, cancelled education and substance-abuse programs and signed a settlement agreement with the agency over work it oversaw in constructing the Court Street Jail with no contract.

The other contracts that were bid out, including maintenance, plumbing and electrical work at the jails, could be awarded next week, said Maj. William Stump, who runs the jails.

“We hope we’re going to have a smooth transition (to the new vendor),” Stump said, adding that the other contracts could lead to “additional savings.”

Stump said the new food vendor will continue serving the infamous “warden burger,” a bland, but nutritional sandwich made of turkey loaf and cabbage and provided to prisoners who misbehave.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.

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