Last week, the Costa Mesa Employees Association was disappointed to learn that the Orange County Superior Court denied its request to stop the city’s plans to privatize the local jail.

This request was denied by Judge Luis Rodriguez because the City Council still had not reached its own decision to enter into a contract with G4S Secure Solutions.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Muir from the Orange County Employees Association, representing CMCEA, stated that the group “will continue to seek a preliminary injunction because we believe it is unlawful for the city to outsource the jail to the private sector.”

People who are supportive of the city’s decision to outsource the jail saw the court ruling as a victory. Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger said in an email that the court’s decision keeps the city’s plan on track to save the taxpayers millions of dollars without layoffs.

In May of last year, the council approved a contract with the private security company G4S. The deal was prevented from being finalized because of a preliminary injunction that halted outsourcing certain jobs to private companies. The injunction ended in January.

On Tuesday, the city council is expected to cast its vote on the contract, which will reportedly save the city $3.2 million over the next five years.

If the plan goes through, the eight full-time officers responsible for the 32-bed Costa Mesa Jail will have to be moved to different positions within the city. They include one overseer sergeant and seven other full-time custody officers, three part-time officers and a court liaison officer.

Without outsourcing the jail, the city will have a cost of $1.38 million to staff the jail. Using the services of the private security company G4S will bring that cost down to $743,000, a savings of 46% for the city and its taxpayers.