The walton county jail

[TheZohan]

Is the sheriff's office going to get the jail or is that a lost cause?

 

[happydays32]

The Walton County Jail.

I hope the Board of County Commissioners doesn't hand over the jail keys to the Sheriff's Office. He manages to go over budget on everything he touches. I understand Adkinson's expansion of the emergency operations center complete with a dozen in wall plasma televisions and thousand dollar chairs is about a half-million over the initial cost estimate. I guess us taxpayers would serve the sentence of such a bonehead decision by the lap dog administrator lyle z. and the county commissioners.

 

[30ABandMan]

Having served in a comm center for 8 years and watching the nickel and diming that goes on I would say you know nothing about that type of work.

You can complain about spending $1,000 on a chair but it is always better to buy quality. These chairs are used 24/7 365 and there is nothing more frustrating than having to go in and sit in a broken chair.

On the other hand, I have no idea what the need is for all of the big screen tv's but I do know that comm centers are evolving in their design. More monitors and responsibilities are being added.

I suggest you go and sit in the comm center on a Friday or Saturday night. You will be amazed at the amount of activity and maybe you'll earn a little respect for those who are first to answer the public's call for help.

 

[Bob Wells]

Having served in a comm center for 8 years and watching the nickel and diming that goes on I would say you know nothing about that type of work.

You can complain about spending $1,000 on a chair but it is always better to buy quality. These chairs are used 24/7 365 and there is nothing more frustrating than having to go in and sit in a broken chair.

On the other hand, I have no idea what the need is for all of the big screen tv's but I do know that comm centers are evolving in their design. More monitors and responsibilities are being added.

I suggest you go and sit in the comm center on a Friday or Saturday night. You will be amazed at the amount of activity and maybe you'll earn a little respect for those who are first to answer the public's call for help.

Are they talking here about the Dispatch center or the EOC which you may find could be in 2 different rooms. The EOC is normally activated during declared emergencies, ie hurricanes and the like. So if they are spending a $1000 on a chair for a dispatcher who may be in it from 8 - 12 hours, no issue, but if it is for a short term non daily use then maybe a grand is a bit much. In the old EOC they had folding chairs.

 

[30ABandMan]

I agree with the EOC not needing top of the line equipment.

 

[happydays32]

The animals are running the farm here in Walton Co.
The "worst" economic period since the "Great Depression", add an Oil Spill Crisis to these terrible economic times. Result our "local" elected officials are "hell" bent on spending instead of putting a brake on killing the residential and business tax base.
(1). The Walton Co. Commission spends hundreds of thousands on having personal assistants for each commissioners. You'll find such madness in no other Fla. County.
(2). The South Walton Tourist Development Council spends hundreds of thousands on out-of-town public relations firms when it already spends tens-of-thousands on in-house employees who do the same job.
(3). The Walton Co. Sheriff's Office overly depends on "one-year" state and federal grants. Big problem, us "taxpayers" are responsible for footing the bill after the grant ends and the local residents and business owners end up paying the salaries' of these new employees and programs brought in under these grants. Democrat Bureaucracy at its worst. It requires hundreds-of-thousands of extra local tax dollars.
As a Tea Party advocate, it's time to throw out any incumbant Walton County Commissioner and Walton Co. Sheriff who can't curb their spending appetite and advocates an outrageous double-digit property tax increase (22-percent) . The times' of free flowing money are over in Walton Co. like most places across the U.S. As their employer, let your elected officials know the job they are doing is "not" satisfactory and show them the door in the voter booth.

 

[Andy A]

happydays32, I agree with some of what you say but it is my contention that a lot of it is dead wrong and shows a lack of understanding regarding our county.
First of all, I am not aware of more than one full time assistant per county commissioner. That one assistant is a necessity for answering citizen's inquiries. If there are more than one full time the matter should be looked into. Sara, for instance, has only one of which I'm aware.
While the TDC does spend money on out of state advertising and promotions, they do a lot of work locally as well. For example, every morning there is a truck that comes by the bottom of our walkover and picks up the trash that has been deposited by conciencious tourists and locals in their provided trash receptical. The TDC does a lot that is unnoticed by the populace as a whole.
Lastly, the operation of the sheriff's office is such a vast improvement over what it was prior to Mike Atkinson's election it is not worth talking about. He wants dispatch to be able to immediately communicate with all emergency response enities. Such is presently not the case even though we have 911 capability. Radios that operate on the same frequencies are a "must" for really sucessful emergency response and control.
I am also a very strong Tea Party Patriot advocate and want our tax dollars wisely spent. It is necessary to spend money in this day and age for government to be usefully functional. The best we can do is make sure we monitor and guide the spending of those dollars. We disagree on how Walton County is spending those dollars. I think, from everything I see, they do a pretty decent job. I do not agree, however, in the new proposed budget increasse voted for by four of the five present Commissioners.

 

[Interested Girl]

happydays32, I agree with some of what you say but it is my contention that a lot of it is dead wrong and shows a lack of understanding regarding our county.
First of all, I am not aware of more than one full time assistant per county commissioner. That one assistant is a necessity for answering citizen's inquiries. If there are more than one full time the matter should be looked into. Sara, for instance, has only one of which I'm aware.
While the TDC does spend money on out of state advertising and promotions, they do a lot of work locally as well. For example, every morning there is a truck that comes by the bottom of our walkover and picks up the trash that has been deposited by conciencious tourists and locals in their provided trash receptical. The TDC does a lot that is unnoticed by the populace as a whole.
Lastly, the operation of the sheriff's office is such a vast improvement over what it was prior to Mike Atkinson's election it is not worth talking about. He wants dispatch to be able to immediately communicate with all emergency response enities. Such is presently not the case even though we have 911 capability. Radios that operate on the same frequencies are a "must" for really sucessful emergency response and control.
I am also a very strong Tea Party Patriot advocate and want our tax dollars wisely spent. It is necessary to spend money in this day and age for government to be usefully functional. The best we can do is make sure we monitor and guide the spending of those dollars. We disagree on how Walton County is spending those dollars. I think, from everything I see, they do a pretty decent job. I do not agree, however, in the new proposed budget increasse voted for by four of the five present Commissioners.

mr. Brannon has two as well as Ms Jones

 

[Andy A]

mr. Brannon has two as well as Ms Jones

Thank you. I did not know that. I could understand one part time to fill in when the full time assistant and commissioner is unavailable. Two full time, not so much.

 

[scooterbug44]

2 full time assistants for someone who is doing a salaried (part time with massive benefits) job seems a bit extreme.

Would LOVE to know why they need that much help and if it is 100% official county business.

Between email, answering machines, other staff, and cell phones I would think 1 assistant is plenty. People run huge businesses with only 1 assistant.