Lease and operating requirements added to Sheriff’s ICE detention agenda item @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16

Late yesterday, Bradford County updated the agenda for this evening to add a lease agreement for the Douglas Building and a list of “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards”.

That hardly leaves time for anyone to review properly before this evening.

And there is no mention of either of the other two offers for use of the site discussed last time.

Bradford County should choose one of its other options for the site. And the county should do nothing with the site until FDEP returns results of its contamination examination.

The meeting is 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026, at the Bradford County Courthouse, 945 North Temple Avenue, Starke, Florida 32091.

Lease and operating requirements added about Sheriff’s ICE detention to agenda packet @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16

This item is still one of the “Reports” in the agenda, not marked ACTION. But the Commissioners could choose to vote on it anyway.

There is no comment by the county attorney in the agenda packet.

There’s also nothing on the agenda about any results of the FDEP contamination study they approved last time, March 7, 2026. That would have to take much longer than nine days, anyway.

As we pointed out last time, Starke has already had sewage spills, and increasing its population by 50% (3,000 inmates on top of 6,000 Starke residents) would risk more spills, on a site that sits between two creeks that go through Lakes Rowell and Sampson into the Sampson River to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.

There is some verbiage about that in the lease, and in the “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards: Douglas Building Facility Transition”:

2. Utility Infrastructure & Waste Management
The anticipated occupancy load requires a robust upgrade to the current waste management system to prevent municipal interference or environmental hazards.

City of Starke Connections: Full integration with city water and sewage is required.
Duplex Submersible Pump Station: The facility must utilize a commercial-grade duplex submersible pump station. This redundancy ensures that if one pump fails, the secondary unit maintains operational continuity.
Grinder Pumps: To mitigate the high risk of system clogs common in correctional settings, heavy-duty grinder pumps must be installed on all primary sewage lines.

Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards, 2026-04-16 –Bradford County, FL, BOCC
PDF

Grinder Pumps, 2026-04-16 –Bradford County, FL, BOCC
PDF

Quite a lot for the Bradford County Commissioners and everyone else to digest.

Bradford County Commission, 2026-04-07 –jsq for WWALS

There are more images below.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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