City renews jail food services contract for five more years

By Steve Hunter

shunter@kentreporter.com

The same food services company that has prepared and served meals at the city of Kent jail since it opened 30 years ago will continue its work for at least through 2020.

The City Council approved on Tuesday night a five-year contract with Mercer Island-based Consolidated Food Management, Inc., (CFM) to produce an average of about 2,500 inmate meals a week. The city will pay the company an estimated $239,000 a year with increases of 1.5 percent in each of the first two years, a 1 percent jump in 2018 and no increase in 2019 or 2020. The previous five-year contract had no increases.

“We’ve been with CFM the last 30 years,” said Cmdr. Diane McCuistion, who oversees jail operations, in a report on Sept. 13 to the council’s Public Safety Committee. “We also got a bid from one of their largest competitions, Aramark, which came in at $2.15 per meal. CFM came in at $1.55 to $1.65 a meal and was dependent on the number of inmates. We looked at surrounding agencies to see who they are contracting with and if the prices are competitive. They are, so we renewed the contract.”

CFM was founded in 1980 to provide cost effective food service options for clients throughout the Pacific Northwest, and started serving the Kent city jail in 1986. The company serves businesses, schools, senior living and correction facilities. Philadelphia-based Aramark offers food services in addition to its uniform and facilities services.

“They have been competitive for 30 years,” Councilman Jim Berrios said about the CFM contract renewal.

The jail, 1230 Central Ave. S., houses misdemeanor offenders arrested by police as well as those sentenced to less than one year in cases such as drunk driving, domestic violence, minor assaults and petty theft.

The facility has 98 jail beds, 28 work release beds and six holding cell beds for a total of 132, McCuistion said in an email. The jail has an average daily population of about 127 inmates so far this year. City staff used an August daily average of 122 inmates to determine how many meals the jail serves each week.

Kent contracts with Maple Valley to provide jail space for that city, an average of just more than two inmates per month. Kent contracts with Yakima County Jail if the city jail gets too full, but has only sent five inmates so far this year to Yakima, McCuistion said.

The jail employs 25 staff members, with an additional six contracted staff, for food and medical services.

CFM staff prepares the meals at jail kitchen facilities provided by the city. Food crews work with the jail’s medical staff to create and prepare meals for inmates with special medical diet needs.

For most inmates, the main dinner item in a typical week includes Swedish meatballs, chicken stew, chili, chicken tetrazzini, meatballs with tomato sauce and turkey curry stew, according to the contract that broke down the menu for a week. The featured lunch foods include turkey sandwich, turkey meat casserole, chicken patty, diced turkey in gravy, hot dog and turkey salad sandwich. The primary breakfast items are either corn flakes and crispy rice cereal and a boiled egg.