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in-house and thus delaying that expense. Third, he stressed that the Federal inmate <br />program and income from it are not reasons to build a new jail. If the majority of the <br />Commission and Acting Administrator Baird wish to eliminate that program in order to <br />avoid clouding the issue he would do so. He noted that the current jail population is 510 <br />prisoners, actually 57 inmates over the 453 capacity and only 38 are Federal prisoners. If <br />the Federal prisoners were eliminated, the Jail would still be over capacity by 19, the <br />County would lose a significant amount of money, and more jail space would still be <br />necessary. <br />Sheriff Raymond thought it essential to move forward with Option 1 now that the <br />Falkenburg facility has been visited. He recounted that in May 2000, Sheriff Wheeler did <br />a study of the jail, found it to be over -crowded, and estimated a jail population of 600 by <br />2004. Sheriff Raymond=s in-house study submitted on February 24, 2002, as compared to <br />Carter-Goble=s numbers, showed a difference of 16 inmates and 6 fewer staff members. <br />He read into the record and commented upon a 9 -page handout that he and his jail <br />administrator prepared (copy with the backup in the Office of the Clerk to the Board). He <br />stressed that the Ocala facility and the Falkenburg jail are quite dissimilar. He urged the <br />Board to allow General Services Director Tom Frame to move this project to the next <br />phase. He commented that staffing for a larger facility is a big concern; it will take time to <br />fill the additional positions. <br />Discussion ensued and Sheriff Raymond responded to questions of the <br />Commissioners. He indicated his strong preference for the Falkenburg facility and <br />specified that Carter Goble is Atop of the line@ in jail studies. <br />Commissioner Neuberger stated that the Federal prisoner arrangement is not a <br />problem for him as long as we have space when needed for local law -breakers. <br />Commissioner Lowther was impressed with the self -funding programs of the Ocala <br />SPECIAL MEETING <br />November 18, 2003 <br />1 <br />