Commissioners review juvenile detention costs and GreenFeather GPS monitoring charges

Montgomery County commissioners discussed charges related to juvenile detention and GPS monitoring after a letter from the Southeast Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center appeared in the meeting packet.

County staff explained that placement on electronic monitoring (GreenFeather) is ordered by a judge and billed per usage. Kenneth (staff member) and other county staff clarified that the county commonly codes the bills to fund code 85 to cover alternative detention monitoring costs. As staff summarized, GreenFeather monitoring runs about $11 per day per juvenile, plus a $40 installation fee; reinstall fees may be charged if equipment is tampered with or must be reinstalled.

County staff said the monitoring units are reusable but that casing/tabs can break during removal, and that local bondsmen (named in the discussion as Ron Florio) may install units for the court. Commissioners noted that some months have had no GreenFeather expenses when no juveniles were on GPS monitoring. The transcript indicates no formal action was taken on the matter during the public meeting; the discussion was informational and responsive to commissioner questions.

A separate letter from the Southeast Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center was referenced in the commission packet and discussed briefly, but the transcript provides no further motion or vote related to the center during the public meeting.