Newly elected Sheriff Timothy Click has been interim Sheriff since June. In January, he will get to drop the interim from his title, as he won the Primary and faces no opposition in the November General Election.
Since day one, Click has been working hard to be a good steward of Terry County tax dollars by keeping a close eye on the Terry County Law Enforcement Center budget.
“In the past, we have ordered everything from toilet paper to cleaning items to even some food items from one main distributor. I started going through our budget and pricing these items, against Sam’s and Costco. We have been able to get the same quality products for much cheaper through these discount warehouses than we were from our distributor,” stated Click. And the jail goes through lots of toilet paper. About 1,500 rolls a month to be exact, so finding a way to save on this one item is not a small thing! Those 1,500 rolls add up to about $800 a month. Prior to the pricing check and finding a new vendor, this amount was about $1,600! (This money actually comes from commissary funds, and not tax dollars.)
The Sheriff has also turned his attention to the kitchen and has spent lots of time searching out better prices for food items. He has found many of the items to be cheaper at Sam’s, and has been making use of this for some time. Last February, meals averaged $3.39 a tray. This February, meals averaged $2.21 a tray. But the savings will soon be even more.
TCLEC will be getting their food through Five Star Correctional Food Services, starting April 1. This company offers quality food at a much more affordable price. “When we get this in place, our trays will be $1.40 each,” stated Click. That is huge. In fact, this will translate to a savings of about $176,000 per year.
“One thing I want to make clear, the quality of the food will be the same. They will be serving hamburger steak, Sloppy Joes, and other good quality and filling meals,” stated Click. More of the cooking will be done in house and you only pay for what you use through this company. “In the past, we would have to prepare 100 meals at times for only 75 inmates, because that is the way it was packaged. With this program, they send us the food, and our kitchen staff prepares it for the exact number of inmates we have. We only pay for what we use, so there will be no waste.”
Hockley, Garza and Lubbock County Jails all use this service and Click checked with these places before making the decision. “They were all pleased with every aspect of the service, so I feel like this will be a good move for us here,” stated Click.
