JP Coger's Washington County UPdate 8/30/26
Updated: Aug 30
Welcome to this week’s Washington County Update!
Work is beginning on Washington County’s proposed 2027 budget, and I am sharing the complete first draft for your review. This week’s newsletter also covers Monday’s paid parental leave proposal, continuing jail overcrowding, and a broad new Paragon Architecture contract that identifies neither a total cost nor all the county buildings it may cover. As always, I welcome your questions, concerns and observations.
HERE the complete document - Draft No. One - for you to study and review. The budget workbook contains multiple tabs, so be sure to click through each tab to see the complete proposal. Please let me know what concerns, questions or priorities you believe the Quorum Court should address.
👀 Looking Ahead
Several important Washington County meetings are coming up. All meetings are open to the public.
Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be held at the Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College Avenue, Fayetteville.
Finance & Budget Committee: Tuesday, September 8, at 6:00 p.m. I will have more on this meeting next week.
Washington County Library System Board: Thursday, September 17, at 4:00 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 2462 S. Brink Drive, Fayetteville.
Regular Quorum Court Meeting: Thursday, September 17, at 6:00 p.m.
Planning Board Meeting: Thursday, September 24, at 5:00 p.m.
____________________________________________________________
The Washington County Quorum Court County Services Committee meeting for September will be held Monday, 8/31/26, 6:00 PM, at the Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The meeting will be live-streamed HERE.
Read the full agenda HERE.
Agenda Highlights:
Item 6: Sheriff’s Report - Jay Cantrell
The jail generated 22,849 bed days—1,038 more than during the comparable period last year.
That equals an actual average population of approximately 737 people per day, compared with approximately 704 last year.
The average population was approximately 737—above the jail’s rated capacity of 710 and far above its estimated functional capacity of approximately 580 to 600 after required housing separations are considered.
The pretrial population declined by 40, which is encouraging, but pretrial detainees still constituted the largest reported category.
That reduction was more than offset by increases in state prisoners, federal prisoners, and county commitments.
State-prisoner ADP increased particularly sharply, rising from 172 to 222—a 29% increase.
Calls for service fell nearly 12%, while jail intakes increased by approximately 4%.
Only 22 people were sent to prison, compared with 33 last year, while the state-prisoner population increased substantially.
Estimated cost of the reported bed days
In 2024, the Arkansas Legislative Audit determined that it cost Washington County $80.52 per day to house one person in the detention center. At that rate, the 22,849 bed days reported during this 31-day period represent an estimated gross cost of approximately $1.84 million. The additional 1,038 bed days compared with the same period last year represent approximately $83,568 in additional gross costs.
These are estimates based on the auditor’s two-year-old figure. The current cost is likely higher, and state and federal reimbursements may offset part of the county’s gross cost.
Item 7: Human Resources Update - Jessica Bennett
The update includes several administrative items:
Employee insurance open enrollment is scheduled for October 26-30 at the courthouse and November 2-6 at the Sheriff’s Office.
HR expects to provide an update regarding the percentage increase in employee healthcare premiums, although no percentage is included in this written report.
Annual salary increases may move to a common January date instead of being based on each employee’s position anniversary date. This could be a meaningful change, and we have already heard how the transition would affect employees and the county budget.
A new Human Resources Generalist I is scheduled to begin work September 14.
Entries for the county’s challenge-coin design are due August 31.
Item 8: Communications Department Update - Tad Sours
Item 9: Assessor’s Office Presentation - Russell Hill
The County Services Committee will consider an ordinance Monday night establishing paid parental leave for full-time Washington County employees following the birth of a child, the finalization of an adoption, or the placement of a foster child.
Employees who have worked for the county for at least one year would be eligible for eight weeks of paid leave. Employees with less than one year of service would receive a prorated benefit. The policy would cover biological, adoptive, and foster parents.
During the leave period, employees would continue receiving their regular base pay and accumulating sick and vacation leave. Most importantly, they would not have to use their existing sick or vacation time to receive the benefit. Employees who are already on maternity leave when the ordinance is approved would be transferred to paid parental leave, and any sick or vacation time they had already used would be restored.
I intend to support this ordinance. Paid parental leave gives families important time to recover, adjust, and bond with a new child without the added worry of losing income or exhausting the leave they may need later.
I was very fortunate to have paid maternity leave with both my children, born eleven years apart. That time meant so much to me, and I will never forget those special weeks with them. I want Washington County employees welcoming a new child—whether through birth, adoption, or foster placement—to have that same opportunity to focus on their families during such an important time in their lives.
__________________________________________________________________
📊 Key Numbers This Week
$129.7 million: Washington County’s adopted 2026 budget
730: People incarcerated in the county jail Friday morning
580-600: Estimated functional jail capacity
360: Pretrial detainees
306: State and federal prisoners
22,849: Bed days reported during the latest 31-day period
$1.84 million: Estimated gross cost of those bed days using the 2024 Legislative Audit rate
8 weeks: Proposed paid parental leave for eligible employees with at least one year of service
No stated limit: Total potential spending under Paragon Contract 2026-156
___________________________________________________________
Transparency Corner - Follow the Money
New Paragon Contract Leaves Buildings, Projects and Total Cost Undetermined
Washington County has entered into another agreement with Paragon Architecture, Contract 2026-156. Unlike the earlier Paragon contracts containing fixed dollar amounts for particular projects, this agreement establishes no total price, spending ceiling or not-to-exceed amount.
The contract functions more like a one-year umbrella agreement for architectural work on county-owned buildings. Its stated purpose is the “floor plan recreation and renovation ideas of existing County owned buildings” under RFQ 2025-01. Although 100 N. College Avenue is given as the project location, the agreement repeatedly refers to county-owned “buildings” in the plural and does not provide a list of the properties it covers.
The specific building, project scope, construction budget, schedule and Paragon fee are all left to future project-by-project fee proposals and scopes of services. The agreement contains the full range of potential architectural work, including preliminary planning, schematic design, construction documents, bidding assistance, construction administration, change orders and completion inspections.
Potential costs include reimbursable expenses, additional site visits, services continuing beyond 16 months and a restart fee equal to 10% of fees earned if the county suspends a project for 30 days or longer. The agreement also limits Paragon’s total liability, in most circumstances, to the amount of fees paid by the county.
The dates raise additional questions. The agreement says it was “made as of” June 3, 2026, and covers projects from January 6, 2026, through January 6, 2027. However, the AIA footer shows that this particular document was not produced until July 28, 2026, at 4:28 p.m. Central Time. The clerk’s stamp appears to show that it was filed August 3.
June 3 appears to be a retroactive “as of” date. This version of the agreement could not have been generated or signed before July 28 because the AIA footer shows that it was produced that afternoon. The county should provide the DocuSign completion certificate showing when each party actually signed and explain why the agreement reaches back to January 6. We also need to know whether Paragon performed or billed for work before the agreement was signed.
An umbrella professional-services agreement should not become a blank check or a means of advancing capital projects without clear scopes, public cost information, proper appropriations and meaningful Quorum Court oversight.
Contract 2026-162 - Johnson Controls for work at the Washington County Juvenile Justice Center.
Contract 2025-124a - Real Property Lease Termination - Terminates lease with The Jones Trust for Station 5 - Suite 114 (111sf), Classroom (267sf) and Common Area (shared 634sf). This terminates a lease wherein the tenant is listed as “Washington County Juvenile Court, Arkansas.” The document appears internally inconsistent: it says notice was given on July 9, 2026, but identifies September 1, 2025, as the effective termination date and August 31, 2026, as the deadline to surrender the premises. The effective date may be a typographical error and should be clarified.
Contract 2026-163 - Agreement with Boston Mountain Solid Waste District Dated 8/11/26 with initial three year term. Based on the stated population of 40,497 and a rate of 50 cents per resident, the annual cost would be $20,248.50, billed quarterly at approximately $5,062.13.
Contract 2025-16h - Medical Yard Trench Drain - “Furnish and install 160” Trench Drain and approx. 10ft of 4” sch 40 DWV PVC pipe. Excavation and backfill included. Saw cutting and pour back by GC. The last time I toured the new jail construction, the exercise yard connected to the medical offices did not slant downward and someone had taken a sledge hammer or some tool and attempted to direct the water flow in the concrete. There were drains in the walls, but they were two or three inches above the ground. I do not know for sure that this is the same spot, but the medical unit only has one exercise area. The amount of this change order is actually $6,361 “minus credit of $3,967 for work not needed in the kitchen area,” which equals $2,394.00 shown on the document.
__________________________________________________________________
📊 Washington County Jail Data Dashboard
⚖️ Detention Center Data. Read the most recent Inmate
Population Analysis HERE.
Read the Detainee Summary HERE.
Weekly Jail Report: Population Far Exceeds Functional Capacity
At 10:07 a.m. Friday, August 28, the Washington County Detention Center held 730 people, with a reported high count of 746.
Of the 730 people incarcerated, 360 were classified as pretrial detainees, meaning they had not been convicted and sentenced in their current cases. That is 49% of the jail population. Another 221 were state prisoners and 85 were federal prisoners, including 80 held for the U.S. Marshals and five on immigration holds. State and federal prisoners together accounted for 306 people, or nearly 42% of the entire jail population.
Using Arkansas Legislative Audit’s 2024 estimate of $80.52 per person per day, housing 730 people represents an estimated gross cost of approximately $58,780 per day. That would exceed $21.4 million over a full year if the population remained at that level. This is not the county’s net cost because state and federal reimbursements may offset part of it, and the actual daily cost in 2026 is likely higher than the two-year-old audit figure.
The crowding is real, but so are the policy choices contributing to it. Nearly half the population is awaiting resolution of a case, while another 42% consists of state and federal prisoners. Housing federal prisoners is a county policy choice, not a legal necessity. On Friday, 85 federal detainees occupied county jail space.
Washington County continues to rely on the same fundamental response used for decades: incarcerating more people and seeking more jail space. That approach has not solved overcrowding and it never will. We cannot build our way out of the problem while continuing to hold people simply because they cannot afford their release. With new leadership, I hope the county will seriously evaluate and implement evidence-based alternatives that can safely reduce the jail population while protecting our community.
These numbers reinforce my longstanding support for meaningful pretrial services (which differ from the County's Community Rebuilding Initiative) and for re-establishing a Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee to examine system-wide solutions. Read the 2020 Criminal Justice Assessment Study HERE.
🔎 Public Data Resources
Detailed reports are available here:
Detainee Charge Report:https://www.washingtoncountyar.gov/government/departments-f-z/sheriff/detention-information/detainee-charge-report
You can check the “Calls for Service” board here.
Here’s a list in alphabetical order to search for people.
__________________________________________________________
🧾 County Bid Postings (as of 08/30/26):
Bid 2026-18 - Re-Bid 2026-18 Sheriff’s Office Outdoor Range Acoustic. Sheriff’s Office Outdoor Range Acoustic Reduction: Bids are due August 31 at 4:00 p.m. The bid opening is September 1 at 9:00 a.m. in the fifth-floor conference room of the Washington County Courthouse.
Bid 2026-19 - Detainee Food, Commissary, Communications Services - Bids are due September 28 at 4:00 p.m. The bid opening is September 29 at 9:00 a.m. in Suite 530 of the courthouse.
Bid 2026-20 - Soft Body Armor - Sheriff’s Office - The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is soliciting bids for thirty-eight (38) NIJ Level IIIA soft armor concealment style vests to be worn while in uniform. Bids are due September 14, 2026 by 4:00 p.m. The bid opening is September 15, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. in Suite 530 of the courthouse.
View all RFQs and bids [here].
___________________________________________________________
🧑💼 Here are the Washington County Job Openings as of 08/30/26. Click on any link below to start the application process.
View and apply for job openings HERE.
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $21.91 / HR | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | 24.38 - 26.86/hr | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $24.04 | |
Temporary | Open Until Filled | 14/Hr | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $16 - $17.62 | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $21.25 - $23.42/hr | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $21.91 - $24.14 | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | 19.95-21.98 | |
Full Time | 09/04/2026 4:30 PM | $24.38-$26.86 | |
Full Time | Open Until Filled | $58,697.60 - $64,708.80 |
Please share these opportunities with anyone who may be interested. ___________________________________________________________
Good government depends on an informed and engaged community. Thank you for taking the time to stay informed about the Washington County government. If you found this newsletter helpful, please consider sharing it with your neighbors, friends, and family.
— Beth Coger
Justice of the Peace, District 9
Washington County Quorum Court
Comments