By Phil Kabler
The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — After spending $3.5 million on renovations to the former Davis Center in Tucker County, the Division of Juvenile Services abruptly abandoned the project, raising questions about whether the division had failed to do an adequate costs-benefits analysis of the plan, a legislative audit released Monday concludes.
The center, which includes an education/administration building and a resident housing building, was vacated in 2009 when the nearby Kenneth Honey Rubenstein Center opened.
Renovations to convert the Davis Center into a 24-bed female juvenile correctional facility were halted after questions were raised regarding vacant beds and difficulties maintaining adequate staffing at the Rubenstein Center.
“The project was stopped and renovation ceased after ensuring the buildings were enclosed properly,” Juvenile Services Director Stephanie Bond stated in a Jan. 9 letter to legislative auditors. “There are various reasons for the decision to close, including issues with staffing a nearby juvenile facility.”
Auditors concluded that the issues leading to the abandonment of the Davis Center, “were foreseeable when the project was initiated…The Division of Juvenile Services expended $3.5 million for which the DJS and the state received no significant return.”
Bond noted that under a lease agreement with the Division of Natural Resources, the Davis Center will revert back to the DNR, which is working with the Division of Corrections and Department of Agriculture to operate the complex as a food canning facility.
She said Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick told the Tucker County Commission plans are to have the cannery in operation by this fall.
Also during legislative interim meetings Monday, a legislative audit concluded there is a strong correlation between West Virginia having the second-lowest starting salaries and second-highest turnover rate in the nation for correctional officers at state prisons.
Because of high turnover and vacancies, the state Division of Corrections spends as much as $3 million a year training new correctional officers, and in fiscal 2014 paid $5.3 million in overtime.
Also, many correctional officers are eligible for food stamps, Medicaid coverage, and other public assistance programs, the audit noted.
Comparatively, a $2,000 increase in starting salaries, which would raise the starting salary for correctional officers to $24,584, would cost about $2.1 million a year, the audit found.