New Sheriff is playing politics

[Willy]

I think the new sheriff is playing politics. I read in the LDN that, OMG, there's mold in the jail. I know we've talked about this before but now the Sheriff's got the newspaper involved. He's definitely trying to drum up support for his need to have the County fork over tax dollars to clean up the jail. I don't think the Sheriff realizes that mold has been around for a billion years and that it's one of the easiest creations of nature to control. Mr. Sheriff, do some housecleaning once in a while and your mold problems will go away and if it comes back, do a some more cleaning and add a dehumidifier. I can see that the new Sheriff will have no remorse at spending as much of our money as he can get a hold of.

http://ludingtondailynews.com/news/70057-mold-found-in-jail-building

[XLFD]

Chuck, what's holding the sheriff back from posting that information to make it available to the public to support his claims?  Why can't he throw it out on Facebook to show the public the need for this expense and the neglect of this over the years? 

If we can train deputies to handle tasers properly (oops!?), why can't we train them to handle sponges properly?  In wood shop class, you always shut down the operations for the last ten minutes of class for clean-up, maybe we should adopt a similar protocol for the MCSO at shift change time.  Most of them look like they should get some extra activity anyhow. 

[Chuck Finley]

Maybe you should offer your services to help clean up the mold... You seem to be very knowledgable in all topics so share it on the clean up crew you never know you might be able to tear up that indigent letter along with the sharing of your vast wisdom

[Sam Axe]

THAT'S FUNNY! last ten minutes for clean up! WOW! and you talk about people that are out of touch you are far out in left field on this one. Shut Down operations another rib tickler! I watch that show on cable called JAILS and they run 24/7 I really dont think there is time for a "shut down the operations" even if our jail in our county runs 1/2 as hard as the ones on tv crime knows no time and things happen all the time... so you are just silly.

[XLFD]

Glad I could entertain you.  I used a wood shop reference because it seems like some of the Cole folks that come on here are still a little ways away from that high school diploma or GED.   Simplistic, but a 'similar protocol' that happens at shift change, would not involve the shutting down of all operations (whatever those amount to) like you would do during shop class.

Having worked with the local fire department, we always had protocols when we got back from structure fires and other incidents where our equipment was brought out and used. 

This involved changing out the hose we used so they could be subjected to washing and drying, coupled with putting in new dry hose to replace the ones we used.  Before we went home and waited for the next call to come in, we'd do this to avoid the issues of mildew and mold forming on these wet hoses.  What a concept. 

We would also top off the gas in the equipment (saws, generators, etc.), replace other used up materials, wash off all the equipment and trucks, and effectively get everything back to the way it was before anyone went home.  At our bimonthly meetings we would make sure the station was fully maintained and reasonably clean, and were always encouraged to correct things when we saw things out of place or untidy. 

I can't imagine that these deputies can't take a few minutes of their day to do the same. 

[Sam Axe]

I'm sure the prisoners would chip in and hold back their needs while this is going on. What do they have like 30 people housed in he building, and 3 or four on a shift that cant be to hard

[XLFD]

Sam,

These are correction officers and deputies serving at a jail, not concierges and wet nurses serving at a hotel or hospital.  The inmates won't take issue and leave. 

In fact if the mold problem is so bad, they only stand to benefit from the regular cleaning as the mold spores won't recirculate throughout the building if the mold isn't allowed to grow in the first place.

[Willy]

C''mon Chuck," for the last 8 or 9 yrs people have been trying to clean up the mold", your not serious are you? We're talking "mold" "bleach" "scrub", and you really don't have to scrub because the bleach will neutralize the mold as soon as it makes contact. I don't see anything complicated about that. Nobody is trying to point fingers or scrub brushes. I just wish the Sheriff would do some housecleaning so he wouldn't have to sob to the press how bad he has it at the jailhouse. If mold is the worst thing he inherited from the former Sheriff then I would say the previous Sheriff did a pretty good job.

[Sam Axe]

So what you are saying  is, the inmates will stop with their needs and wants while a clean up is going on for the last ten minutes of a shift? I just don't see that happening, if there are 30 prisoners and three staff members thats 10 people per employee and if they are only half as needy and demanding as you are asking for information from them all the time I have to think that the people that work there have their hands very full with the residents always looking over their shoulder.

[Chuck Finley]

Well I don't think the mold started right after the election, do you think that? I'm thinking with the building being a public building there is a little more to the removal of the mold than scrubbing. There are probably guidelines that need to be met in order to keep the building open. And some where I read that the buildings are the responceabilty of the County Administrator? Is that right? But if it is he can't fix things unless he knows so if you don't tell him I guess you save money... Lest till the next guy gets the lemon you just got rid of.

[XLFD]

The molds probably been there a long time.  In the election I seem to remember leaky showerheads and burnt out lightbulbs that weren't properly taken care of were some of the issues pointed out by the new sheriff.  Again, I'll point back to my time on the fire department and say that any of us could and would have fixed similar problems that we had at the fire station without all the fuss and blather.

According to Cole, routine maintenance of the MCSO was being ignored.  I looked at that as a mid-level management type of issue that maybe should have been addressed previously by Cole himself, if he felt strongly about it.  And if he took that up with then-sheriff Fiers, whom likely was unaware of the danger, he would have a real issue if Fiers had said it was not worth doing.  

As it is, I see it as a lot of unionized deputies saying "It's not in my job description to do that." letting maintenance problems add up until they become a problem.  Maybe that's why the police boats were so bad off too-- or maybe, just maybe, it's crybaby politics as this thread infers. 

[Chuck Finley]

Lets pretend for a moment that the then sheriff knew about leaks and choose to either not do anything or speak up about it OR better yet, try to fix it himself with bubble gum and duct tape. I would think that the "middle management" that I would hope has the best interest of their employees in mind ( even though according to you all on here is not a priority to be concerned about the people that work for you) would have said something about the leak to the county before it became a large problem and cost the tax payer lots of money instead if passing it on and looking like a schuck

[Sam Axe]

"As it is, I see it as a lot of unionized deputies saying "It's not in my job description to do that." letting maintenance problems add up until they become a problem."

XLFD, I am under the assumption the the employees at the police departments are all full time employees with responsibilities and tasks that each are trained to do through out their day at work, not volunteers like the hose jockies are.  Here is a good web site http://www.sherifftrainingcouncil.org/hiringstandard.html

I also believe that there is a full time maintenance guy/crew just for the county buildings for the up keep