Oklahoma County Jail To Give Employees $1,000 Hazard Pay Bonus

The Oklahoma County Jail Trust began working through how it will spend more than $40 million in federal COVID relief funds Monday.

During limited public comments, one woman told trust members she works at a local hospital.

“I can’t tell you how many of my friends currently have COVID. Do you think that we are getting hazard pay or hero pay because let me tell you ma’am we are not,” she said. “So here you are asking me to sign off on this for county employees? Get out of here.”

The trust voted to set aside $3 million to give jail employees a $1,000 bonus.

“That’s just an incentive for them to stay healthy and take care of themselves and to also report to work so that we can take care of the people that are detained there at the center,” Detention Center CEO Greg Williams told the trust.

Trust chairwoman Tricia Everest said she expects the detention center will spend all $40 million county commissioners handed over.

“In my role as the chair, we shouldn’t reject any of the funds that come to be able to improve the lives that we are serving right now,” Everest said.

The meeting remained orderly – until the trust shut down public comment due to time restraints. Seventeen people signed up for public comment, but only five were allowed to speak.

“At the end of the day, it was better to be here and hear those that we could rather than conducting business all electronically,” Everest said.

The board also accepted a request by County Treasurer Butch Freeman to get a legal opinion on whether any of the jail expenses even fall under COVID relief. Everest said that opinion will likely come from District Attorney David Prater.

The trust will meet again next Monday to discuss how they will spend the remaining $37 million in CARES Act money.