COQUILLE — Juvenile detention teacher Michael Minks went into work one April morning this year and found several of his students were gone.

The agencies that had placed them with the Coos County Juvenile Detention Center took them away. They were afraid the center would close. Rumors and talk about funding constraints plaguing the county’s budget fanned those fears.

Two weeks ago, Minks stood before the Coos County commissioners. He asked for help now and in the years to come. Minks, like many other employees, was not sure what the budget had in store for the juvenile department, but he did know was the money crunch was hurting kids who need help.

The state may be able to answer the call for help.

The Governor’s Task Force on Federal Forest Payments has recommended the OYA aid struggling counties by contracting with county detention centers to place teenagers who would go to juvenile correctional facilities elsewhere.

“This plan could be mutually beneficial by bringing funding to programs such as YCC and OYA with more placement options,” Minks said in a letter to the commissioners.

And it would save jobs.

But first, the county must keep the detention center  and a youth care center programs running, said David Jennings, a representative of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He feels that would put the county in a better position to get the state’s business. Other counties will be in competition for those slots, Jennings said.

Two years of insecurity over the loss of federal timber payments has had a ripple effect in the juvenile department.

Last year, the department cut five employees. Earlier this year, department staff feared significant budget cuts would force them to close the center.

Anticipating a closure, Curry County and other entities removed kids they had in the detention center. Even the Oregon Youth Authority eased back. It has a contract with the center to run a Youth Care Center, a 90-day program in which juvenile offenders spend time in counseling and working toward a high school diploma or General Education Development certificate, but that too has seen no referrals since mid-April.

The 2008-09 county budget does now include funding to keep the detention center open. But in June, Juvenile Department Director Janet Evans resigned, saying funding uncertainty was the main reason she took a position in another county.

A temporary law enforcement tax levy, proposed by Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier and Sheriff Andy Jackson could provide funding. Jennings said he supports the effort, but it may be a tough sell to voters.

“You have to make a really good case,” he said.

Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty has met with local OYA representatives to review the state’s contract. Though there have been no recent placements, the county still has $38,000 — less than half of the negotiated amount—  to pay for placements. The contract pays about $75 per child per day, Whitty said. With a year remaining and more than half of the funding spent, Whitty wants more OYA to consider providing  more money.

“We were using up the allotment, putting more kids in than originally planned,” she said.

Whitty also is crunching numbers in another way.

She wants to re-evaluate the juvenile department to improve efficiency. The department also has contracts with the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon State Parks to provide work crews for a fee. Whitty is exploring how to maximize that revenue. She said she would rather keep detention running than have to close and send kids to a center out of the county. The department would save on operating costs, but spent more time and money transporting youth.

“It could be done, I suppose. But it would be better if we could work it out,” Whitty said.

Jennings said ultimately, if the idea is to reduce the chance youth placed in detention will return, the department must have a detention center close to relatives or guardians. Visits and joint counseling sessions are much easier when the detention center is close to home.

“If there is a need — and I think there is — you want to use it,” he said.

(Staff Writer Jolene Guzman covers Coos County. She can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 235; or by e-mailing to jguzman@theworldlink.com.)