Colfax, county renew interlocal jail agreement

The City of Colfax and Whitman County renewed an interlocal agreement for incarceration services with a unanimous vote of the county commissioners Monday.

The agreement provides that the county will incarcerate misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor offenders referred by authorized law enforcement of the city and Colfax Municipal Court. It also stipulates that the city agrees to make quarterly payments to the county for the incarceration of each adult offender. This part of the agreement states that no expense will be incurred to the city for any offender retained for less than four hours from the time of booking.

For each prisoner held in excess of four hours, the city will be pay $86 per day. That amount will go up to $87 in 2018 and $88 in 2019.

The agreement also states that the county will not require payment from the city for prisoners arrested by the city on outstanding warrants originating from another jurisdiction. The city will be required to transport all of its arrestees to the county jail.

Maribeth Becker, clerk of the board, said the agreement has been in place for decades, and she said the City of Pullman has a similar agreement with the county.

County Administrator Gary Petrovich also said the county has interlocal agreements with the Town of Garfield for patrol services and the City of Palouse for criminal justice services.