Each Thursday, we put one of our local newsmakers On The Spot.

This week: Sheriff David Gould

This week's question: The Cayuga County Jail is in need of upgrades. What are the most important jobs to be done and where will the money come from?

The Cayuga County Public Safety Building was built in 1988 and an upgrade addition was completed in 2001. The main concerns that we were facing at the Public Safety Building were the state mandated fire codes that needed to be updated to correspond with the New York State Fire Code Prevention Plans.

Since Jan. 1 all of the fire codes within the entire building have been repaired and upgraded as requested by the state fire codes. The only outside fire code that is to be completed is that the access roadway around the building needs to be widened to a distance of 26 feet so that fire and emergency vehicles can safely travel around the entire distance of the building. The widening of the access road will be completed with the cooperation of the sheriff's office and the county highway department.

Although not under fire codes, another item in need of repair is the public safety building's air conditioning, heating and ventilation system. This system runs the air conditioners and heaters within the entire building. These repairs and upgrades will be completed within the next few weeks.

There are other minor repairs to the building that are being fixed on a routine basis as needed to any aging structure, and these items will always need to be repaired and upgraded.

The costs associated with the above repairs will be provided through the sheriff's office 2007 operating budget and will not cost the taxpayers any more money in this year's county budget.

Many of the state mandated requirements for the upgraded state fire codes have been recognized, fixed and repaired by our own sheriff's office correction officers. Sgt. Doug Butler and corrections officers Doug Wallace, Tom Wallace and Casey Davis attended the state fire code training seminar in February. The four corrections officers were trained and qualified to locate and recognize and then make repairs to all the fire code violations found in the Public Safety Building.

These four officers have done an outstanding job in making sure the building conforms to all state mandated fire codes, which in turn has made the building safe for all who use it - inmates and employees, alike. Because our own employees have repaired and upgraded all the fire codes, we have also saved our county an enormous amount of money for these mandated repairs.