At the Monday Brown County Commissioners’ Court, Brown County Jail Administrator, Becky Caffey, along with Chief Deputy Bobby Duvall, presented new and more profitable bids for phone and video equipment agreements for the Brown County Jail.
Currently there is a phone system in place which consists of 2 phones per cell, with exception of solitary cells. The current contract is due to expire on August 3, 2010. With the advancement of technology since the contract with Securus was initiated, other bids were sought in lieu of an extension of the current contract.
The main items of interest to Caffey in bids obtained from providers Infinity and Conversant. Both systems pay a higher percentage to the county for the inmate phone card sales, offer shorter contract terms (4 or 5 years versus the previous 6 year with option to extend another 4 years) and offer better equipment than the current outdated system according to Caffey.
Caffey stated that one of the proposed bids includes making the current 32 video cameras throughout the jail recordable as well as adding 32 more cameras and it puts a new phone system that uses a swipe system on the calling cards. This also can be used to sign in visitors of inmates by using a swipe of their driver’s license to obtain information, making the visitation process more efficient. The new system would also be a web-based system.
When asked what she felt the downsides were, Caffey stated, “I don’t have any.”
Commissioners asked that copies of the two bids be given to the court for review. The matter was tabled until the next meeting of the commissioners’ court.
In other matters on the agenda:
*Dr. James Hays was approved as the Local Health Authority.
*Richard Solis presented the preliminary plat review on Feather Bay, Phase 3. Click here for more details.
*Employee changes at the Sheriff’s Office were approved. These changes consisted of a new hire to replace a terminated patrolman with no change in salary. The jail count was reported as 186 at the time of the meeting, which was of concern to the commissioners because the capacity of 196. The current female count was 36, near the female capacity of 38.
“That’s as high as I can remember during a Monday morning meeting,” stated Commissioner Steve Adams. Caffey replied that the number should be down by afternoon with releases and etc.
*Approval of the Service Agreement Renewal Notice for the VINE grant was also granted. This money helps assist victims in knowing where the offender is when moved according to Tony Aaron of the BCSO.
*Four landowners: James Foley, Dub Wilson, Weldon Wilson and David Farmer approached the court requesting CR 225 be paved. They stated that for years they have been given promises from Steve Adams (their precinct’s commissioner) that the road would be paved. Calls to Adams have not been returned so they felt the need to approach the court to find out what can do to help move the process forward.
“We haven’t paved any roads lately because the costs have gone up. It costs $50,000/mile (per coat of asphalt) after a road bed has been prepared,” stated Adams. “We have paved the FEMA project flood damage because FEMA paid 75% of the cost to repave. The budget is very tight, very close.”
Commissioner Joel Kelton offered a bit of advice sighting a recent agreement he had worked out with some homeowners in his precinct to help through a cost sharing agreement. The owners shared 50% of the cost of a 1 1/4 mile road last fall in order to get the project completed.
The matter was left unresolved with the promise from Adams to the four men that he would look into the current costs of road materials and get back with them on the possibilities. He also reassured the men that their road has top priority for future paving.
*A very short discussion resulted in all commissioners agreeing that a burn ban is not necessary after the previous week’s rainfall.
