The judge ruled for Talitrix to get paid per the contract between the Sheriff’s Office and the company. He also ordered 140k in attorneys fees. A jury of Fulton County residents then voted in favor of a 1.6 million dollar judgement for attorneys fees.
Are you planning on appealing?
Sheriff Labat is still considering whether to appeal various aspects of the litigation to include the verdict.
Why didn’t the Sheriff pay the bill, when he admits the work was done according to testimony?
The FCSO’s first two (2) engagement with Talitrix were not funded by taxpayer dollars; instead, they were funded by commissions received from corporations. Those commissions were a part of the Inmate Welfare Fund. When the BOC repealed legislation that disallowed the Sheriff to utilize those funds, the Sheriff’s Office was left with no mechanism to pay Talitrix. It has been erroneously stated that Sheriff Labat could have paid for the services out of the FCSO’s normal operating budget. This is patently false. For years, Sheriff Labat has decried that the FCSO is seriously underfunded. Misrepresentations from County leadership that the Sheriff’s Office has a budget of $234 million have led to much of the confusion surrounding this and other issues.
Do you believe the work was done and the system preformed well?
Sheriff Labat has always believed in Talitrix’s ability to eventually perform the work as contracted and expected. While the system did work, there remained aspects of platform that had yet to be proven and the project had not been closed out at the time Talitrix submitted its invoices for payment. The FCSO had confidence that the system could be completed successfully because it was functioning in some aspects. There remained, however, much work to be completed. Yes, the system “worked” and, yes, there were still aspects of the system needing to be developed, tested and ultimately deployed.
Where will the county get the funds to pay the judgement?
This is a decision that must be made by County leadership and the Board of Commissioners as they maintain control over all County resources and funding. Some commissioners think it falls upon the Sheriff to pay it out of his budget, since he was the one that entered into the contract with no oversight from the Commission. As a constitutional officer, the Sheriff was not required to submit to the Board’s control over his contracting authority; this is the basis of Sheriff Labat’s lawsuit against the County. Is the Sheriff willing to pay it out of his budget and if not, why not? It is unprecedented to require any constitutional officer or County department head to pay a legal judgment out of their budget. Every dollar allotted to the FCSO is accounted for during the County’s budgeting process. The County is well aware that the FCSO budget exists of $156 million. Of that $156 million, $95,361,454 is related to personnel costs and the operating budget is $61,302,535.
Personnel costs cannot ever be used for other purposes. Of the $61,302,535 for the operating budget $ $41,743,457 is allocated to pay for contracted inmate medical and mental health expenses, $7,145,991 is contracted for inmate food services, $2,463,972 is budgeted for inmate commodities (uniforms, toiletries, mattresses, cleaning supplies, etc.) and $759,613 is contracted for extradition services. The remaining balance of $9,189,502 is the true FCSO operating budget and it must be utilized to fund all other Agency expenses. These expenses include uniforms, equipment, vehicle repairs, fuel, training, and other critical FCSO needs. In other words, of the $156 million allotted to the FCSO, a mere 7% of that budget can be used in a discretionary manner. It is for this reason that the Talitrix engagement was funded outside of the normal FCSO budget and was appropriately funded utilizing the former inmate welfare fund, as its services were for the benefit of our inmate residents. When the Board took control of the inmate welfare fund, it essentially tied Sheriff Labat’s hands, making it impossible for him to pay Talitrix or any other item not funded by the Board during the prior year’s budgeting process.
Some taxpayers may find it frustrating that Fulton is now paying nearly 2 million (when you add up the cost of contract and attorneys fees) for a product that’s not even in use. What is your response to them?
As a Fulton County taxpayer, Sheriff Labat is also frustrated by this turn of events. The persistent refusal to work collaboratively with the FCSO and Sheriff Labat on this and other matters causes continuing dysfunction. This dysfunction does a disservice to our inmate residents, the FCSO staff and the taxpayers.
Were there ever any discussions to negotiate a settlement?
The Board of Commissioners is required to approve all settlements relating to legal matters. In this case, the Board vehemently and stubbornly refused to approve either settlement authority or any settlement amount. Additionally, the Board had control of the former inmate welfare fund and refused to utilize the fund to pay Talitrix.
Sheriff Labat was forced to engage in litigation because it was the only way the County could be forced to pay the amounts owed. It was foolish of the Board to neither pay Talitrix for work performed nor to agree to a settlement early on.
Was this ultimately a waste of tax dollars? Do you plan on reintroducing the Talitrix system in the future?
Sheriff Labat maintains that an inmate monitoring system is overwhelmingly beneficial for our inmate population. His position is supported by the various companies that are now engaged in deploying similar technology.
Likewise, there can be no dispute that there is a need for this technology. Today’s inmate resident in our custody come with even more medical and mental health conditions than any other time in history. Any tool that closely monitor the inmate residents’ vitals further ensures that FCSO and medical staff can quickly respond to medical emergencies. This technology works and is necessary; it is foolhardy to believe otherwise.
Talitirx says this sends a message to other businesses, that Fulton is now getting a reputation of not paying its bills. Does the Sheriff’s Office believe this adds to the reputation?
Sheriff Labat believes in paying what he owes. When he had control of the funds in question, he timely paid Talitrix’s invoices. Had he maintained control of those funds, he would have paid Talitrix.
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