Prisoners chillin’ at county jail with new A/C contract

The slammer. The pokey. The joint. The hoosegow. The clink. The cooler.

All are slang for jail, and the last one – the cooler – is particularly appropriate for the Gonzales County Jail, especially after county commissioners approved on Monday a maintenance contract with an air conditioning company to keep the joint cool.

The maintenance contract is designed to save the county money over an hourly rate and, more importantly, overtime service calls at twice the regular rate.

Sean Dubose of Mtech, an Austin company that handles commercial HVAC, plumbing and electrical services, gave an update to the commissioners on his company’s A/C maintenance contract for the county jail.

Dubose told commissioners and County Judge David Bird that the on-call hourly rate for Saturdays would be $40 per hour, and on Sundays and holidays it would be $80 per hour.

“Once the maintenance phone call is made, we find out what the problem is, and we dispatch a technician,” Dubose said. “He should be on site between 4-6 hours.”

Dubose also said Mtech has two technicians who live in Lockhart who, if they were dispatched to Gonzales County, could be here much more quickly than that.

“They could be there in an hour-and-a-half,” he said.

Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski asked about after-hours service rates.

“If we have to call you at night during the week, will there be an additional charge to the contract amount?” he asked.

“Weekdays after 5 p.m. is also $40 per hour,” Dubose said. “But the whole idea on our full coverage agreement is to alleviate as many of those (potential problems) as possible.”

Dubose elaborated that Mtech dispatchers will take calls and identify the problem, and that they will have at least two technicians available for repairs.

For the last eight months, Gonzales County has been using the hourly rate program and calling Mtech whenever an A/C problem arose. But as of today, the county will abide by a one-year contract in the amount of $42,585.

“They’ll send us the written contract,” Bird later said. “If all the guidelines and provisions are clear and agreeable, then I’ll sign it and we’ll be good to go.”