The Cook County Board on Sept. 17 approved contract renewals and increases related to juvenile detention staffing and nonsecure reporting centers while a number of commissioners raised questions about confinement, training and recurring contract increases.

The chief judge’s office sought contract renewals and increases for services tied to the juvenile system, including a contract amendment for Monterey Security Services to supply unarmed security staff. Tyrese Montgomery, director of business and finance for the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), said Monterey typically provides 25 to 30 staffers on rotation to supplement county youth detention specialists and cover vacancies. He said the county currently has about 145 active youth detention specialists (YDS) and roughly 46 YDS vacancies; Monterey staff are used to maintain required supervision ratios and to keep residents in programming rather than confined to rooms.

"The more staff we have ... we'll actually keep kids out of the room, able to go to programs, and not keeping them confined," Montgomery said. County officials told commissioners contracted staff receive the same initial training as county YDS employees.

Several commissioners pressed officials about continued reliance on contractors and recurring year-to-year contract increases. Commissioner Gaynor noted that some renewals reflected substantial price increases compared with initial contract values and asked whether the county is adequately forecasting costs and soliciting bids that reflect actual anticipated spending. Officials said the reporting‑center contracts include cost-of-living adjustments and that the county has published an RFP to solicit future vendors.

McQuail Lewis, acting chief probation officer for Juvenile Probation and Court Services, said the department monitors attendance, utilization rates and programming at six reporting centers and assigns staff to supervise programming. Lewis said while all centers provide core services such as cognitive‑behavioral interventions and mentoring, some specialized programming (for example, music therapy) may vary by center based on capacity.

The board approved the chief judge’s contract items by vote; commissioners Gaynor and Stamps recorded no votes on the chief judge items during the roll-call on those measures. The record shows the board adopted the renewals and increases and discussed a plan to recruit county YDS staff to reduce dependence on contractors over time. Officials said they have a YDS training class scheduled and that hiring will continue with the goal of decreasing reliance on outside staffing as vacancies are filled.