FARMINGTON – County commissioners on Tuesday approved job descriptions for a detention manager and custodian in anticipation of the county jail becoming a 72-hour detention facility on July 1.
The manager position incorporates part of the work done currently by Jail Administrator Sandra Collins. Once a manager is hired, that person will be responsible for hiring other employees.
If the proposal for the detention center changes on July 1, the county needs to be up and running, Commissioner Gary McGrane said.
The jails proposal will be presented during a public hearing in Augusta on June 24. Until it is accepted, the county has been told to proceed as if it has been.
There are several capable, qualified people in the system who are expected to apply for the new positions, Pike said. The county is under a time constraint to post the positions for 10 days and be prepared for change on July 1.
Four new positions will be created by the change, including a detention facility manager, a transportation scheduling person, a utility/security officer and a custodian, Pike said. Two officers will be on duty at all times. Pike has nine officers and a part-time person to fill those duties.
The last meal at the Franklin County Detention Center will be served on June 27. All prisoners will be transported to Somerset County as the state undertakes renovation of the facility. For two weeks, maybe less, while the facility is revamped, he said, the detention center will only receive and process arrests. Prisoners will then be shipped to Somerset.
The kitchen and an indoor recreation area will not be used after the change but there will not be much unused space, Pike said. The state expressed willingness to rent any of the unused space to the county, he said.
The control room of the jail will not be staffed after the change. Collins asked commissioners to approve spending an estimated $3,000 for six “man down alarms,” portable radios for the two officers on duty, the custodian, manager, dispatch and a spare. The radio speaker comes on when an officer is in trouble, she said.
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