Commissioners direct county to replace damaged inmate partial denture, not full set

Purchasing staff brought a request for an advance payment of $3,179 to Imperial Family Dentistry to extract damaged teeth and provide new dentures for an inmate (Ronald Fulz) after the jail's laundry process reportedly destroyed a partial denture. Captain Hayne provided an incident report indicating the dentures were washed and dried, which Purchasing said rendered them unusable. "They washed and dried them which ruined them," a Purchasing representative said during the discussion.

Commissioners debated whether the county's responsibility extended to full extractions and a complete denture set or only to replacing the item damaged while the inmate was in custody. An insurance representative suggested the county's obligation was to replace the damaged partial denture. The court amended the motion and voted unanimously to return to the original dentist and replace only the damaged item; the item for another inmate (Tyson Smith) was dismissed because the inmate had been discharged.