Florala jail may get ‘OK’ soon

By Stephanie Nelson (Contact) | Andalusia Star-News

Published Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said at Monday’s city council meeting that two of the three necessary hurdles in reopening the city jail have been cleared.

Bedsole was tasked in August with determining the feasibility of not only reopening the city jail, but also restarting police dispatching services within the city limits.

Monday, Bedsole said both the state fire marshal and the health department officials have cleared the “old jail,” which is located next to the current city hall building. The next and final step is to get architectural input, concerning the structural integrity of the building.

Mayor Robert Williamson said an architect had already made a “walkthrough” of the facility, and an answer is expected “pretty quickly.”

Bedsole provided details of the state fire marshal and health department’s inspections.

“There are certain items that need to be done, like enlarging the back door and installing an operating camera system,” Bedsole said. “The health department came and cited a couple of items, like laundry facilities, making sure we had hot and cold running water, where we plan to make the meals since there is no kitchen. All of those are correctable.”

Bedsole said the city could save money on meals by purchasing them from the Florala High School cafeteria.

“I spoke with (County interim superintendent Terry) Holley, who said we can get breakfasts for $1 each and lunches for $2.65,” he said. “We can double up on lunches to cover the supper meal. That would be a great savings to us.”

Currently, Florala is charged $17.05 per day for inmate housing at the county jail. Inmate meals are billed separately at a charge of $6.88 per day per inmate. Those prices are set to increase Oct. 1 to $18.76 and $7.57, respectively.

As for the dispatching services, Florala currently pays $18,000 a year to E-911 for police dispatching. Fire and rescue dispatching costs are covered as a tax on citizens’ residential phone bills. Additionally, Lockhart Mayor Eugene Birge has offered to provide one full-time employee to help staff the dispatching center/jail, if the city chooses to reopen the jail.

“Right now, the two biggest things to be done are fixing the back door and installing a vented heater,” Bedsole said.

Bedsole felt confident about the project.

“I think we can make it work,” he said.

In other business, the council:

• Opened bids on the renovating the old utilities board building, which will house the new city hall. The council will award the bid at its next meeting.

• Tabled discussion on increasing the rental fee of the old armory.

• Approved the purchase of the former Tri-Cities Emporium building for $20,500.

• Made the following board appointments: Samantha Dorsey to the recreational board, and Christine Wilson and Joann Greene to the library board.

• Was asked to nominate members to a newly established five-member downtown redevelopment board.