Adelphoi contract gets green light, but Allegheny County isn't paying yet
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny County will pay millions to freshen up the old Shuman Juvenile Detention Center before the nonprofit Adelphoi moves in.
It'll oversee the center to the initial tune of nearly $8,000 a day. The five-year contract's gotten the green light, but the county's not paying Adelphoi yet.
It's millions of dollars to get it ready and tens of millions of dollars to run it. KDKA-TV took our questions to the county controller's office.
Corey O'Connor breaks it down as two separate contracts his office is keeping an eye on.
"The $72 million is for Adelphoi to operate, but the contract for the construction of the building, now that's a county contract, that's separate," he said.
He said the county will pay roughly $6 million to rehab the old Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. Adelphoi said the goal for completion is the end of December, but no one knows if that'll happen.
"We've been onsite inspecting before the project even started because I don't believe they have permits yet and then the courts process the contract," O'Connor said.
KDKA-TV submitted a right-to-know request to Allegheny County to find out if anyone else bid on the job and learned "Allegheny County did not receive any bids in 2023 by contractors bidding to run the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center."
The county said it did not ask for bids because the courts submitted for the contract. The courts said they can't comment on the contract because of the pending lawsuit by some members of the county council.
That $70-plus million contract got the go-ahead on Sept. 15, with the county manager's signature. Adelphoi says per the contract, Allegheny County started owing money that day, but it hasn't been paid yet because the county's still getting it set up with the county's invoicing portal.
If you backdate to the execution of the contract in mid-September, Allegheny County would already owe roughly $460,000. O'Connor says his office will keep an eye on this daily.
"Obviously we don't set the policy for the county, so for us, it's looking at the policy that was set, making sure our taxpayer dollars are being spent properly but then also inspecting on the job site construction as well as making sure a contract like this is ironclad so if something happens, we make sure that the courts, whatever they signed, didn't hurt the taxpayers at the end of the day," O'Connor said.
Adelphoi said it's cared for children in the juvenile justice system for 40 years, adding there are few that offer the same type of services. It says it will offer care, all levels of supervision and ensure the safety of kids in a state with a juvenile justice crisis.