Jail evacuation concern addressed by commission
More discussion about countywide law enforcement
Staff reporter
Marion County Sheriff Lee Becker reported Friday to Marion County Commission that problems identified by the state fire marshal were "solvable."
Architect Tony Rangel of Law Kingdon of Wichita toured the jail facility June 25.
"The real issue is to have someone there to turn the key within a four-minute window," Becker said.
The state fire marshal will require the county to implement changes to the building and add personnel to meet state requirements. Among the requirements is being able to evacuate the jail, prisoners and personnel, within four minutes in case of fire or some other disaster.
County communications director Michele Abbott-Becker expressed her concerns about having dispatchers responsible for the evacuation of inmates.
"With the duties of closing their dispatch center, I don't think it is possible, for the current staff of dispatchers, to evacuate the building within four minutes," she said.
Currently, there is double coverage with two dispatchers between 1 p.m. and 1 a.m. daily but not weekends.
Becker said when the jail is fully staffed, there would be a jailer on duty during weekends.
"What will personnel do when there isn't a reason to evacuate?" commissioner Dan Holub asked. "I don't want to pay somebody to sit around and wait for a fire."
Abbott-Becker said it would take two to three additional people to meet the requirement.
Commission chairman Randy Dallke said additional dispatchers would help cover sick leave and vacation time.
With that, Abbott-Becker will make those considerations for additional staff in her 2008 budget. It was not specified what funds would be used to renovate the jail to meet building concerns.
Rangel will present his proposal to the fire marshal on Monday with the results presented to the commission at a future meeting.
In other business:
— Holub told Becker that he had talked with a man from Manhattan who had worked for the county/city sheriff's department about countywide policing. Holub asked Becker if city police chiefs had responded to the possibility of sharing services and asked when deputies did paperwork.
Becker responded that 70 percent of officers' time is spent doing paperwork. If there were additional resources/personnel, assistance could be used in serving papers.
Holub said he thought about sharing process servers and investigators on a county level with cost shared among the county and cities.
"Maybe there's something to be gained by sharing positions countywide," Holub said.
Becker said Manhattan and Riley County were different from Marion County because the majority of the population was concentrated in Manhattan. In Marion County, the population is spread out.
