By Danny Federico Riverbend News
The Lafayette County Board of Commissioners (LCBC) held a regular meeting on Monday, April 12, at 9 a.m. The meeting took place in the County Commissioners Meeting Room, on the second floor of the Lafayette County Courthouse, located at 120 W Main St., in Mayo. Commissioners in attendance were: Lance Lamb, District 1; Henry McCray, District 2; Lisa Walker, District 3; Anthony Adams, District 4 and Earnest Jones, District 5.
The meeting opened up with the invocation and pledge of allegiance, which were both led by Scott Sadler, director of the public works department. After the invocation and pledge to the flag, the board approved the minutes from the previous meeting, held on Monday, March 22, before moving into the section outlined for requests and comments from the community.
During this time, Warden Gillian Woodard, with Mayo Correctional Institution (C.I.), addressed the board on the shutdown of the work squads. "This is not something that we have a choice on," Warden Woodard said. "It was the direction that was given to us from the (Florida Department of Corrections) secretary."
However, Warden Woodard proposed a solution where she could approve the board of commissioners to have non-DOC supervised work group. This means the county would still get the inmates, but they would not get the officer. "So, clearly, that would be somebody that works for either the city or the county," Warden Woodard said. "They would have to go through the (DOC) training in order to have all of the requirements to be able to supervise that crew. But, it does offer a little bit of a solution to not have to hire a whole bunch of people to take care of the roadways, cemeteries or whatever it is that needs to be taken care of."
Board Chairman and District 4 representative, Anthony Adams, asked Warden Woodard if she could provide the background or reasoning behind the direction. "We're extremely understaffed right now, in the totality of the prison system," Warden Woodard said. As of right now, she states Mayo C.I. has a 27 percent vacancy rate. This, she says, is extremely high for trying to run a prison. "Most of the correctional officers that we have are not only working their 12 hour shifts, they're working 16 hour shifts." Warden Woodard then went on to explain how Mayo C.I. is considered a high vacancy rate (HVR) prison. "(This) means that our staff are not even getting their two days off; they're having to pick, two times a month, which one of their two days off they want to work." Due to the issue of being understaffed, Warden Woodard states she would "much rather have the correctional officers inside (where the danger level is), than outside" to oversee work crews.
Chairman Adams then responded, letting it be known how Lafayette County has come to rely on the work crew services from the DOC. "Being one of the smallest counties in the state, we are very much constrained in our budget," Chairman Adams said. "And we're one of just a few counties in the state that are mandated by legislative action to maintain all the cemeteries in the county, so that was a big service." He then mentioned how, later on the agenda, the board would be discussing taking on the expense of maintaining the county's cemeteries. This, he said, could be in excess of $50,000 for the county.
Chairman Adams then brought up the rumor of prison closures. During this time, Warden Woodard informed the council that the prison system recanted their initial idea of closing four prisons, down to one 115 man prison. So far, there has not been any indication as to where that would be.
After Warden Woodard was done addressing the commissioners, the floor opened up with statements from the department heads. During this time, Sadler mentioned how cemetery mowing began before Easter. He also requested four trucks and 200, 95 gallon trash carts be declared surplus materials. After brief discussion, the board approved his request.
There were no other comments from the remaining department heads, so the board moved on to approve the remaining items. This included: approving an advertised Road Closing Petition and setting up a public hearing date for Monday, May 24; approving a proclamation from Haven Hospice to declare April 2021 as "National Healthcare Decisions Month" in Lafayette County; appointing Shawn Jackson, head of the UF/IFAS extension office, to the WellFlorida Council Board; approving the motion to continue the COVID-19 declaration and approving the bills. After these items were approved, the meeting was adjourned.
The next LCBC regular meeting will take place on Monday, May 10, at 9 a.m. in the County Commissioners Meeting room, on the second floor of the Lafayette County Courthouse, located at 120 W Main St. in Mayo.