Franklin County BOC to Discuss Jail Expansion, Employee Handbook Tonight

Franklin County’s Board of Commissioners could have a lot to talk about at their regular meeting tonight.

While the agenda is fairly short, commissioners never had a chance to discuss any of the line items at a work session last Tuesday night because it was cancelled due to the snow and ice storm and never rescheduled.  That means discussions will likely be taking place tonight before any votes are taken.

One item on the agenda includes discussion of the Franklin County Employee Handbook.  Back in August, County Clerk Elaine Evans told the board the employee handbook was outdated and had not been updated in years.  At the time, Evans listed a number of federal laws that have changed and need to be revised in the handbook.

“The Family Leave has changed, the military leave has changed, thanks to Obamacare the number of days an employee has to wait to get on county health insurance has gone down from 90 days to 60 days,” Evans said.

Also, the number of hours considered a part-time employee has gone down due to the impending Obamacare. Evans said the county must change that from 32-hours to 30-hours.

Evans said she has also had situations come up as the former head of human resources that are not in the handbook.  Additionally, Evans said the county needs to look at its current policy on bereavement leave.

 Since then, county staff has been working to revise the employee handbook and tonight, the board will get an update on those revisions and are expected to vote on those revisions.

Also, tonight, the board is expected to get an update on plans to expand the Franklin County Detention Center.

In November, Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas and architect Tom Wright, Jr. of Wright, Mitchell & Associates presented the board with a plan to add a new pod to house non-violent offenders and female inmates. The pod would consist of four dorms with 24 beds each.

Thomas told the board in November  the county jail has 74 beds, but Thomas says they need 92 more. 

“Every month for the last couple of years, we’ve had to house somebody out,” Thomas said. “At any given time, we have from three to 10 females housed in the Jackson County jail. If we add on an additional 92 beds, we would only need two additional staff members per shift.”

Thomas said it costs his office about $7,000 a  month to house out inmates at neighboring facilities, money he said would be better spent going towards expanding his jail. 

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6p at the Franklin County Justice Center in Carnesville.