County jail avoids hygiene crisis

Thanks to a vote by the Monroe County Council, the Monroe County Jail won't have to scrounge around for toilet paper.\nWith less than 10 days before the jail ran out of basic cleaning and sanitary supplies, jail Commander Bill Wilson contacted his facility manager Sue Wheeler to conduct a inventory of the facility's current supplies. Wilson's order came after the Monroe County Council voted against transferring money to resolve the problem at their regular, Oct. 11 meeting. According to the list Wheeler compiled, the jail has already run out of plastic foam cups, was scheduled to run out of latex gloves today and would have run out of toilet paper by Halloween.\nWilson attributed the detailed inventory list to the reason the council's vote change.\n"I really think it was beneficial because it created some urgency," Wilson said. "They could see the problem in black and white."\nWith only one dissenting vote, the council voted to transfer funds from a surplus in correctional center personnel account -- from which personnel are paid -- to a correctional center supply and maintenance account. Fifteen thousand dollars of the total $26,000 transferred will be used for restocking diminishing supplies.\nCity Council member Marty Hawk said in an interview prior to the special session the council initially voted against the transfer because they thought the funds could come from other budgets. Hawk said the money specifically requested for supplies could have come from the sheriff's commissary fund, a fund generated from inmates purchasing items at the jail.\nCounty Sheriff Steve Sharp said he never considered using the commissary fund to pay for jail supplies because it funds other items not budgeted for, such as a new radio system and computer equipment.\n"We looked at the balance and said there was enough there," said Hawk before the special session. "(Sharp) has money he can go to. They were not going to run out of toilet paper."\nHawk voted in favor of the transfer.\nBefore Monday's vote, Wilson said the jail was readying itself for a potentially serious situation.\n"On its face it's easy to see this as an issue of personal hygiene," Wilson said, "but it's a security issue as well. Imagine trying to manage an inmate population without these things."\nSharp said this is not the first year he's had to request to transfer funds.\n"Historically, at the end of the year we've had to go into salaries to pay for supplies," Sharp said. "That's every year we've done it."\nSharp said next year's budget, passed in August, addressed the underfunding.\n"Thank god we don't have to deal with the crisis we thought we could have to deal with," Wilson said.