• For the first week of the new security measures at City Hall, non-City employees with valid City Hall IDs were allowed to bypass the X-ray machine and walk-through metal detector. No more. Security guard Al Gurley said the mayor’s office has decreed that all non-City employees are subject to security checks. This includes credentialed media with valid IDs.
• The Bureau of Prisons has issued a Request for Proposals for residential re-entry center (RRC) services within the city limits of Jacksonville. The Bureau currently has a contract for a facility at 2020 Dahlia Street. That contract expires Feb. 28, 2009 and the Bureau is looking for another five-year deal. The RRC is a halfway house that provides services to male and female offenders who are transferred from correctional institutions to the community for release programming. The facility is also for offenders under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office who are required to reside at an RRC. Ron Hayes, assistant administrator of the community corrections and detention services branch for the Bureau, made it clear the RFP seeks to replace the existing service, not add an RRC to the area.
• City Council ends its break with both the Rules and Finance committee meetings Wednesday. Among the 60-item Finance agenda are four ordinances that would appropriate nearly $300,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for various anti-terrorism operations including funding for the JSO SWAT team and the development of written materials, CDs, a Web site and other outreach programs for businesses and civic organizations. Also on the agenda are several items that appropriate funding for the Supervisor of Elections office to send out voter education mailers and sample ballots as well as poll worker recruitment and training.