FARMINGTON – Franklin County Budget Committee members toured the jail, sheriff’s department and dispatch center Tuesday before beginning budget review of a proposed $4.8 million spending plan for 2008.

Once through the locked doors of the jail entry, jail Assistant Administrator Carl Stinchfield began the tour in the inmate library where educational, library, worship, and other services are provided.

They walked through an office shared by mental health and substance abuse and pre-trial services, before Stinchfield showed them his office, Administrator Sandra Collins’ office, and a work room where inmate’s files nearly fill four eight-shelf units.

Collins stepped into the room after dealing with inmates who had been fighting.

It’s a constant battle trying to figure out how to house about 26 inmates and have them get along, Stinchfield said. Some cannot have contact with others and must be separated.

Stinchfield and Collins answered questions as the tour continued through the sally port where a cruiser drove up with a person under arrest, the booking area and the control room.

A bank of video monitors showed areas of the jail and outside in the control room, which Stinchfield called the “nerve center of the facility.”

From there it was back out through the booking room where a man was being patted down, into a hallway leading to a locked door where visiting rooms and minimum security rooms are located.

The tour continued down another hallway where two flexible occupancy cells and medium and maximum security cell blocks are located. A corrections officer sat in an enclosed space with visuals on the two latter blocks.

At the end of the hall is a kitchen that serves 600 meals a week, including mid-shift meals for corrections officers because they are not allowed to leave once they are in the secure facility, Stinchfield said.

New gas stoves are costing about $110 a month compared to thousands of dollars in electricity costs before the conversion, he said.

Stinchfield ended the tour outside with a look up at the flat roof in need of repair.

Sheriff Dennis Pike took over and led the group next door to the sheriff’s office. Two desks sat side-by-side as committee members walked into Chief Deputy Ray Meldrum’s office and then past Lt. Niles Yeaton’s office, which also houses evidence and equipment due to space constraints. One of four cargo units outside is also used for evidence, Yeaton said. The others are used for record storage.

A view of the sergeant’s office, and then two desks butted front-to-front in a pass-by room for two detectives to work. The next room is the deputies’ room, about 8- by 10-feet with three work stations set up.

Dispatch Supervisor Melinda Caton’s office abuts the communication’s equipment addition, which looks into the dispatchers’ workspace.

Dispatchers Stan Wheeler and Vicki Worth were busy Tuesday during the storm with about 27 accidents handled at the storm’s peak.

Once at the county courthouse, committee members set to work electing Chesterville Selectman David Archer as chairman then going through the proposed budget listing questions they would like answered at the 5 p.m., Monday, Dec. 3, committee meeting.

Among those was why commissioners voted unanimously Monday to include a 2 percent cost-of-living increase in the budget for nonunion workers when initially it was 3 percent that commissioners approved in the budget in October.

The committee also agreed to set a public hearing on the budget proposal at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, in the superior courtroom.