The owner of the New Era House said she was not given a chance to bid for a renewal of her contract with the state Department of Corrections for transitional housing services for recently released felons.
The DOC had contracted with ATTIC Correctional Services for an eight-bed facility at 227 E. Richmond St. in Shawano, replacing the New Era House at 105 E. Richmond St., but the Shawano Plan Commission last week refused to allow a special exception to the zoning ordinance for the new facility.
At a public hearing before the commission Wednesday, DOC program and policy analyst Joe Sumner said that New Era House “for whatever reason chose not to bid.”
Ruth Paterick, who has been contracting with the DOC for eight years, said that’s not true.
“That isn’t the way it went,” she said.
Paterick said Sumner “did a private bid” with ATTIC.
“He never posted it,” she said.
Paterick said Sumner had stopped in at some point earlier this year and told her the DOC had signed with someone else.
Sumner did not respond to calls seeking a comment for this story.
Shawano Field Supervisor Julie Krause referred questions to the DOC director of public affairs, Joy Staab, who did not return a message left for her Thursday and was out of the office this week.
During an interview in May, after the contract change was announced, Sumner said the DOC opened the service up for bids with the pending expiration of New Era’s contract. He said the two-year contract would be renewable for another four to five years, up to seven years, when the DOC would have to go out for bids again.
Vicki Trebian, chief executive officer of ATTIC Correctional Services, said after last week’s Plan Commission meeting that the company had been looking for a location for the new facility in Shawano since January.
Paterick said she wasn’t given any explanation for the DOC decision. She said she has worked well with the DOC for eight years without any problems. She also said she has never raised her rates during that time.
Residents at the New Era House basically have 24-hour a day supervision, because she also lives at the facility, Paterick said. Meals and laundry facilities are also provided.
Trebian told the Plan Commission last week that there would be three visits a day at the new facility by ATTIC staff, but no on-site supervision. Residents would be wearing electronic monitoring, she said.
Trebian did not return a call Tuesday seeking more information.
New Era’s contract was set to expire June 30 but was extended until the end of July.
Paterick said she was contacted via email by Sumner after last week’s Plan Commission decision asking whether she would be willing to continue her contract through October.
Paterick said she has not yet made a decision.
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