- April 26, 2024
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Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly has written to the County Commission imploring that the county provide the Sheriff's Office with more space for its deputies, and citing Florida law that requires counties to provide adequate space for constitutional officers.
"The law of Florida is very clear," he wrote in the three-page letter dated June 25. "It is this County Commission’s responsibility to provide the Sheriff's Office with the necessary space to serve the community." The current arrangement, he added, "is totally inadequate and likely not in compliance with Florida law and the AGO Opinions." View Staly's full letter HERE.
The county has plans to build the Sheriff's Office a new, larger branch office in Palm Coast, plus another in Bunnell, as well as a training building in Bunnell. But that will take time, and the FCSO needs space now, he wrote.
"I do not recommend a new expensive lease of temporary office space as that is not in the best interest of our taxpayers," he wrote. "But, we are at a crisis point and this situation can no longer be allowed to continue with no resolution in sight."
The FCSO's staff has been evacuated from its Operations Center on State Road 100 since June 2018 because more than two dozen employees began having strange symptoms they attributed to the building, which was found to have a mold problem.
Ever since, the agency's staff has been divided between the jail administrative building and the county courthouse, where they share room with the Clerk of Courts staff. That arrangement was supposed to be short-term, Staly wrote.
The agency's reduction in space due to the move — from 35,000 square feet to less than 6,000, he wrote — "creates service disruptions to the public." The situation has "reached a crisis level" that "could significantly compromise the safety of our community," he wrote.
He listed examples:
The agency has been unable to create a Real Time Crime Center, because it doesn't have enough space.
It doesn't have a secure space for a cybercrimes unit, which handles cases that require "100% security and have very strict access requirements."
The 17 detectives and two service dogs assigned to the FCSO's Investigative Services Division are sharing a space designed for 11 people, and detectives do not have a private space to interview victims and therefore have to request the use of other law enforcement agencies' facilities.
The temporary Evidence Section at the jail administrative building reeks of marijuana, and the smell "permeates the Detention and Inmate Video Visitation building."
"This situation could clearly compromise critical cases despite our best efforts," he wrote.
He noted that the County Commission, on April 1, had voted to have a training center built in Bunnell that could be used as a temporary evidence complex, but, at this point, the land has not yet been cleared.
And, he wrote, the agency's Record's Unit and Public Service Office are sharing a space designed for one person, while the Human Resources, Finance and Legal sections are sharing space with the clerk of court's operations, making it hard for employees to maintain confidentiality.
"It is time to take real action with a realistic temporary and cost effective solution that can be implemented quickly until the new District Office is built," Staly wrote. "This situation demands action. A solution needs to be implemented by the Board of County Commissioners now for the safety of our community and to provide appropriate working conditions for the employees that serve and protect our community!"
