Jail food, utility costs on agenda as Jackson County Commissioners continue budget talks

Jackson County Commissioners continued budget talks Tuesday, with a number of major items discussed as the board tries to trim more than $3 million from the proposed budget.
The board, expecting a 40 percent increase in utility rates for budget year 2008-09, ordered County Administrator Ted Lakey to set a policy for energy conservation across all county departments.
Standard thermostat settings in all or most county buildings was one specific control they spoke of. Board members also indicated that someone should be put in charge of making sure thermostats are set to levels that would prevent the air or heat from kicking on during the weekend when no one is working in the structures. 
Commissioners also looked at some other ways to save on continuing expenses.
Food for inmates was one example. On Tuesday, commissioners directed Lakey to seek out more suppliers for the food to generate competitive pricing, rather than simply accepting the figures offered by the vendors now being used.
In other jail related action, commissioners directed Lakey to offer Jackson County as a test case for a program being considered by the state. Department of Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil has proposed building small state jails, with roughly 400 beds each, to house minimum security inmates in or near their home counties. According to another DOC official, the agency is looking for a host county as the site of a pilot facility.
Lakey said he’ll put Jackson County’s name in the pot, but also try to talk with DOC about re-establishing the state bed program at local jails. Lakey said he doesn’t understand how building small new state jails could possibly be more cost-efficient that the bed program that allowed the state to house inmates at the county jail for $36 a day. The state discontinued the bed program earlier this year, taking away not only income for the jail, a large volunteer inmate labor force used by the county for various assignments like cleaning duty and certain road work.