The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to hire a private company to run a diversion program for first-time low-level drug and property offenders, brushing aside criticisms of the outfit.
The company, Diversion Solutions, will take over for Operation de Novo, a nonprofit that ran diversion programs in the county for 44 years.
The 18-month cost of the program is estimated to run up to $325,600. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman told the board before the 5-1 vote that the new operation will save the county $500,000 a year.
He said some of the services provided by Operation de Novo will be handled within the county by current court and probation operations.
Diversion Solutions CEO Scott Adkisson runs other operations that have been subject to state sanctions. Legislators at the Capitol on Tuesday evening were on the verge of expanding the company's other program to help drivers with revoked licenses get back on the road. Diversion Solutions handles most of that work in Minnesota, although a Star Tribune report this week revealed Department of Public Safety officials' concerns that Diversion Solutions inflated its success rate for its driver's license program. Legislators are now including a provision to audit the company's numbers.
Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin urged the board to delay the vote for two weeks so there could be an investigation of the recent revelations about the company's success.
"There's a history presented that maybe there were claims about success rates that were not true," he said, "I think we're rushing to judgment."
Freeman, however, said he discussed the issue with Adkisson.