Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
The city has gotten its first request for a convicted sex offender to reside at a new Department of Corrections housing facility in the city.
Milwaukee-based Matt Talbot Recovery Services has contracted with the DOC to operate a six-bed temporary placement facility for recently released felons at 118 S. Union St. It was expected some of those felons would be sex offenders.
But that contract was agreed to before city officials last month added a new regulation to its code requiring that DOC facilities that house sex offenders must have full-time, live-in supervision.
The requirement would only apply to sex offenders. The facility wouldn’t require live-in supervision for other types of offenders.
Talbot had not been planning to have live-in supervisory staff. The company’s plan called for residents at the facility to be checked on three times a day.
Talbot won its contract with the state with a low bid of $27.69 per bed, for an estimated annual cost of $60,641.
Neither the DOC or Talbot has responded to requests for information about how the city’s new rule would affect the facility’s operations.
Another new rule the Shawano Common Council added last month also requires sex offenders to be approved by the Shawano Sexual Predator Ordinance Committee before they can move into the facility.
The agenda for the committee’s next meeting, on Wednesday, includes a request from the DOC to allow a sex offender to be housed at the Union Street facility.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the city has not had any other contact with the DOC since last month’s council meeting when the new rules were adopted. There has also not been any word from Talbot about whether the new rules would mean any change in their plans, he said.
Police Lt. Dan Mauel, a member of the sexual predator ordinance committee, said Thursday he had not heard anything more about the Union Street facility until seeing the DOC request on next week’s agenda.
He said he is unaware whether Talbot has hired full-time, live-in supervision for the facility. But, he said, that would be addressed with the sex offender’s probation agent at Wednesday’s meeting.
“It’s something we’ll have to take up,” he said.
Mayor Lorna Marquardt said Friday she consulted City Attorney Tim Schmid on the options available for making sure the live-in supervisor rules are being followed.
“The sexual predator ordinance committee will be asked to obtain the contact information for the person who has been hired to fill that ordinance requirement,” she said. “The city will follow up with either police or building inspector visits to the location to ensure the requirement is being followed. However, even if a live-in supervisor has been hired, the committee still has authority to deny placement of sexual predators to that location.”
The committee meets at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St.