-News from July 30, 2009 issue

Local News
The Crittenden Press Full Version (PDF)

County considers work release options
If the jailer and judge-executive have anything to do with it, prisoners will continue to work in the community, providing labor for a variety of government and non-profit agencies.
Jailer Rick Riley and Judge-Executive Fred Brown spent nearly an hour at last week's fiscal court meeting going over their thoughts and figures regarding Crittenden County Detention Center's work release program. Brown raised some eyebrows in June when he told magistrates that the jail's 2010-11 budget likely wouldn't balance unless the work release program is scrapped.
The judge made it clear last week that he is in favor of keeping the work release program, but he wants everyone to understand that there is a cost for maintaining it. He put together a one-page reference sheet and provided it to magistrates and other county officials last week. The data he shared include various costs associated with continuing the work release program, and they show many savings to the county and other agencies due to inmate labor.
Riley points out that while the inmate work release is a voluntary program, it's not free.
"It's a service," he said. "I am proud of what we do for the community. I don't think Crittenden County has ever looked this good and you'd still be paying for ice storm cleanup if it wasn't for this program."
Riley said that during the ice storm his deputy jailers were even called on to transport residents to area hospitals for dialysis.
"We can save you money," Riley declared, if the work release is ceased. "But think about all of these things and the benefits of it before you make a decision."
The jailer says the jail can indeed save thousands of dollars each year by eliminating deputies and cutting programs. Riley said that he never expected the jail to break even in its first five years because there are too many initial expenses.
Judge Brown explained that about a dozen and a half of the jail's 40 employees are directly involved in overseeing the work release program. Salaries of jail employees involved in non-mandated programs account for about $250,000 to $300,000 of the jail's budget, according to county officials. Of those programs, work release requires the greatest resources; but others, such as the GED program, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, parenting classes, church and Bible study, all require guard oversight and expense, Riley explained.
According to figures compiled by Judge Brown, the jail will need to be supplemented with about $350,000 to $500,000 in the coming years in order to balance its budget, if the work release and other programs continue to exist. Otherwise, the judge and the jailer agree that the jail would likely about break even.
The old 20-bed life safety jail was closed a year and half ago when the new $7.7 million detention center opened. The old jail would likely have been closed by now due to inefficiencies and nonconformance with minimum standards established by the Department of Corrections, said Riley. Were it not for the new detention center, Crittenden County would be like many others, sending its inmates to other counties. Those costs, including transportation, salaries and per diems to other jails, would equal about $400,000 a year based on the number of county inmates currently in the detention center. Crittenden County was spending about $300,000 a year on its old jail before the new one opened.
"Since the first of January, we have held 87 different county inmates," Riley said. "And that's not counting weekenders."
The jail receives just over $34 a day for Class D inmates serving state sentences. There are almost 100 held there on most days. The county is responsible for footing the bill for its own inmates – those who are incarcerated for DUIs or other crimes and are awaiting trial.
Brown says the local economic impact of 40 jail employees equals about $4 million when a common multiplier effect is factored into the detention center's $800,000 annual payroll. According to figures provided each week to The Crittenden Press, jail labor saves the county about $200,000 annually, but Brown says that figure is misleading. It's worth much more than that, he says.
According to the judge's estimates, the county receives a value equalling about $800,000 from the inmate work release program. He explains that by pointing to savings for in-kind labor contributions for grants, disaster recovery, roadside trash pickup, courthouse improvements, illegal dump cleanups and labor at the road department and inside the jail. Coupled with the economic impact of nearly $300,000 in salaries for deputies overseeing work release, Brown says the actual realized benefit from the work release program could be as high as $800,000 annually.
"I can't verify all of these numbers, but they're pretty close," Brown said. "The work release program is not free. It takes a lot of employees to run it."
Magistrates will have all this and more to consider over the coming months. The jail's 2010-11 budget will not be finalized until late next spring, but in the meantime, Brown and Riley are eyeballing another project. They want to turn the former county museum building on West Carlisle Street into a minimum security work release dormitory.
Neither was sure what the cost to refit the cinder-block building would be, but Brown said it doesn't matter.
"I don't know if it will cost $50,000 or $150,000, but after we get the corrections department here to look at it and develop a plan, I am going to recommend that we do it," he said.
Riley said a sprinkler system, smoke evacuation system, beds and mattresses will be some of the fixtures necessary to open the building as a dorm for about 35 approved inmates. Security for them would be minimal, only one guard on duty at all times.
Inside the jail, Riley said it takes several guards to process work release inmates into and out of the jail on a daily basis. That gets expensive, he said. The costs would be mitigated at a dormitory designed specifically for the work release program.

Wounded soldier's home going up in Lyon
Homes for Our Troops will hold a three-day build brigade next week for Dycusburg native Chase Matthews, who was severely injured in Iraq two years ago. The event will begin today (Thursday), with the first wall raised at 8:30 a.m.
A Homes for Our Troops Build Brigade is a three-day construction blitz when professional tradespeople volunteer their time, skills and materials to get the house framed, install doors, windows, roof and siding to make it air tight to the weather. Work on the home will continue at the home, located at 3133 Ky. 373 about five miles north of Eddyville, through Saturday.
The house is being constructed at no cost to Matthews or his family, who will move into the four bedroom home when it is completed. Matthews and his wife Jennifer are hoping the last nails are driven before November, when the couple’s first baby is expected. Jennifer has a daughter, Sarah, from a previous marriage that will also be living in the home.
Matthews, a sergeant in the Kentucky Army National Guard, was deployed to Iraq in March 2007 when he lost both of his legs as a result of an IED, or improvised explosive device. Matthews was driving an up-armored humvee when the IED detonated directly beneath the vehicle. The 24-year-old continues his recovery today.
Homes for Our Troops has completed 40 specially adapted homes since its inception in 2004. The group plans to build 30 specially adapted homes throughout the U.S. in 2009. It takes about six months to complete a home once ground has been broken to the presentation of the keys to the veteran. The average cost of each home is about $275,000.
These homes are presented at no cost to severely injured veterans, thanks to support from corporate sponsors, professional tradespeople, foundation grants and community minded volunteers. For more information on the project for Matthews, visit www.homesforourtroops.org.

School buildings get new roofs with ‘free money’
When students at Crittenden County middle and high schools return to class next month, they’re likely to encounter the sounds of construction overhead.
A new roof being put on the high school, music department and old gymnasium at the combined campus will still be under way when school begins Aug. 11, but the work should not disrupt classes, said Dr. Rachel Yarbrough, superintendent of schools. In fact, work should be near complete on all but a new cap on the half-century-old gymnasium.
The work will pose no danger to students, but at worst may cause some congestion as equipment and materials are moved around, the superintendent assured.
Swift Roofing of Murray began putting down the new tops earlier this month as part of a $1.14 million project to extend the lives of the buildings, repair leaks and improve energy efficiency.
“The music room had bad leaks, as well as the gym,” Yarbrough said.
Buckets used to catch water in the music department and on the stage area of the old gym were mainstays. Often, the buckets were upgraded to large trash cans during periods of heavy rain. The new roofs should prevent their need in the future.
Climbing atop the high school one day earlier this month, District Maintenance Supervisor Greg Binkley pointed to spots on the tarred roof of the high school and music room where water gathered and where the tar that seals the roof had begun to “alligator,” or crack and peel away resembling a reptile’s skin. To combat that, where flat roofs now exist, a pitch will be added to help water drain properly.
“The best way to keep a roof from leaking is to keep the water off,” he said.
The metal roofing which will be used on portions of the project will be green to match the metal roofing already in place on the middle school and high school annex.
Also, for the first time, the near 35-year-old high school will have an insulated roof, making the building more energy efficient and saving the district on heating and cooling costs. The old gym, which also sports no insulation, will be better weatherized, with windows sealed and insulation capping the upper portions of the building.
Brent Highfil, chief financial officer for Crittenden County Schools, said he does not have an estimate as to how much will be saved, but maintains it will be noticeable once completed.
“We should reap a big benefit through that,” he said.
Part of the work has been to remove a safety hazard, a crumbling, 60-year-old brick and concrete chimney once used to vent a coal-fired boiler at the present middle school building, which was once a high school. A Swift employee who spent a better portion of a day chipping away the chimney’s concrete cap almost 90 feet in the air said a pen could easily be run into the crumbling mortar between the bricks.
“In time, the chimney could have been a safety issue,” Yarbrough said.
Piece by piece, the bricks are being removed and the concrete core of the chimney hammered away.
School officials are elated with the work, the first major construction project for the district since Rocket Arena was built in 2001. Despite replacing aging, inadequate roofs, the work is practically gratis.
In fact, the entire project will cost the school district nothing but the money needed to advertise for bids on the project. The work is not donated, of course, but the money to back it comes from a state fund for school districts which accumulates over time to finance such construction.
“It’s free money,” said Highfil. “We’re just tickled to death to get it for free.”
“Free money” is a term Highfil likes to use when it is not derived from the district’s own accounts. Such financing comes from state or federal grants or through funds like this one made available to each school district in Kentucky for construction projects. The new roofs were made eligible for the funding by the need being written into a facilities plan submitted to Frankfort every four years. The latest was submitted just last year.
Yarbrough said the roofing project has been on a needs assessment filed with the state department of education for many years. The work could have been done in previous years with only a portion funded by state monies, but district officials and the board of education opted to wait instead of further taxing an already-strapped budget.
“The board was patient enough to wait until it could be fully funded,” Yarbrough said. “Those in the past certainly get credit for being patient enough to get the entire project funded without the need for local dollars.”
Construction is scheduled to be complete by late September or early October, said Binkley. Having already dealt with several delays due to weather, Swift is working day and night to make up time, employing two shifts at times.