Downum And Mele To Meet With Corrections Standards Authority

Sacramento, CA — This morning at eight o´clock Calaveras County Sheriff Dennis Downum and Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele will be appearing before the Correction Standards Authority in Sacrmaneto.

Both will be pleading their case for new jails in San Andreas and Sonora respectively.

Downum is seeking $30 million in state funding. By eight-tenths of one percent, Measure J passed in Calaveras County on November 6th. That was a $31 million, 30 year bond issue that will provide the county´s 25% share of the cost of the jail or $10 million. In addition that measure will also provide $14 million for the administration, communications and 911 Dispatch Center, $6 million for infastructure improvements and $1 million for bond insurance.

According to Mele, Downum is staking his claim on the premise that the larger counties will continually come back to the C.S.A. for funding because of their annual needs. As far as Calaveras and Tuolumne counties are concerned, one dip in the state funding would provide the two counties with sufficient facilities to last for many years.

A decision on the “winners and losers” in the competition for the state funding may be revealed by January.

Written by Bill Johnson