By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

It may be possible to use the kitchens of the public schools to prepare meals for inmates of the county jail, but it would be neither practical nor economical, according to County Administrator John McCarthy, who recommended last Wednesday that the board proceed with a kitchen addition.

”"r School Superintendent David Gangel and the board’s jail committee — Supervisors Charles Estes and Mike Massie and Sheriff John Henry Woodward — determined at a meeting last month that cafeteria workers couldn’t prepare meals' for prisoners since the school kitchens are staffed only five days a week, nine months of the year. So cooks would have to be employees of the Sheriffs Department. . With a kitchen at the jail, that would mean one additional chef/dietitian position and possibly another half-time slot, since trustees could also assist, Mr. McCarthy noted. But using the school facilities would require at least two full-time chef/dietitians. “I agree with the sheriff that we cannot reasonably expect the state to fund more than one position,” Mr. McCarthy said, adding that additional personnel would have to be paid with local dollars.

That would draw at least $10,000 annually from the general fund, the county administrator pm feted. "Further, should the services of school personnel, be they dietitian, custodian or meals staff, prove necessary, a further out-of-pocket cost would be imposed on the county treasury.” '

He also pointed out that the jail has a back-up generator so loss of electricity would not interfere with meal preparation; school facilities, however, have no secondary power source. Further, Mr. McCarthy noted, "the extreme difficulty of assuring meal pickup and delivery, 365 days of the year, three times each day, argues strongly in favor of integrating a kitchen into the jail facility.”