Public-safety committee hears monthly reports on fire calls, jail staffing, animal shelter capacity and recovery programs

The Rutherford County Public Safety Committee met Dec. 15 and heard its regular monthly reports from county public-safety departments, including details on call volumes, staffing, shelter operations and community programs.

Joshua Sanders, county fire marshal, reported 7,832 calls for service year to date and described a notable November incident in which a houseboat at Fayette Sanders Marina caught fire and was pushed away without causing major damage to the slip or Hoppe's Bar and Grill. He told the committee recent freezing weather had coincided with increased activity, and noted a busy stretch that included two fires on the day of the meeting.

Jay Spence delivered the sheriff's office financials, reporting vacancies across divisions: Communications (four openings, one in background check), Detention (eight openings, down from 42 a year earlier), Patrol (15 openings, including six grant-funded positions) and three SRO vacancies. Spence said the jail had a high pretrial population (about 70 percent) and provided ICE-related figures: from January through Nov. 30 the office released 386 immigrants to ICE and on the meeting day had 96 holding for immigration who were also facing criminal charges. Spence noted several types of charges among a random sampling but did not provide names.

The county's animal shelter (PAWS) reported 297 intakes in November, an 8 percent euthanasia rate for the month, and live-release rates of 82 percent for dogs and 97.4 percent for cats (91 percent overall when wildlife are included). Fiscal year to date the shelter had taken in 1,975 animals with an overall live-release rate of 90.3 percent. The director said staffing and facility space are constrained; the shelter was placed on the county capital improvement list and staff are coordinating with the mayor's office and building maintenance to explore options.

Jane Corbin, safety coordinator, presented the risk-management report: 23 claims in November (16 at the county Board of Education and seven at county general), a year-to-date incident frequency of 217, reserves of $47,660 for the month and year-to-date reserves of $991,038, and year-to-date paid amounts of about $588,921.

Michelle Ricks reported Recovery Court had 175 active participants in November, 11 new participants and six graduates; drug court graduation was scheduled for Dec. 18. Tiara Smith, assistant director of probation, said probation supervised 1,398 clients in November and listed program participation, completions and the month's collections forwarded to the clerk's office.

Correctional Work Center materials showed trash collection and offender-labor savings ($62,504) and community outreach; the center described an altercation that required hospital care and hip surgery for an inmate, which will raise out-of-facility medical costs the center expects to absorb within year-end accounting procedures. A corporal (Kim Salyer) was recognized for a statewide program-facilitator award.

Emergency-management/dispatch staff and EMS highlighted community outreach: dispatch provided food and donated items to county school Atlas program participants and nursing homes. EMS Director Brian Gaither said the department completed 3,653 calls in November, had an average response time of 7 minutes 5 seconds, and raised over $7,000 in a recent food drive that produced 300 blessing bags for Atlas program students. Committee members noted progress on new ambulance bays in Smyrna and discussed a lost state grant for an EMS program that produced a roughly $200,000 shortfall; a commissioner asked the public for donations of nonperishable food and hygiene items to help bridge the gap.

Most departmental reports were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote during the meeting; the committee adjourned with holiday remarks.