Boot camp closes; facility now dormant

State has the option of subleasing, but is not in hurry to do so

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PANAMA CITY - Bay County Sheriff's Office personnel have quickly moved out equipment and supplies from its 11th Street boot camp in recent weeks, but no one is jumping in as fast to use the facility.

The camp officially closes today, which means the two buildings on the property are available.

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice owns the boot camp buildings. DJJ spokeswoman Tara Collins said Wednesday the department "is assessing its needs" and has no immediate plans for the structures.

The boot camp property is at 450 E. 11th St., near another DJJ building. Collins said she is not aware if space is limited at that building.

Bay County owns the 7.5-acre boot camp property, which the state leases. Collins said there is no expiration on the lease, as long as it is used by DJJ as a juvenile treatment or detention facility.

Commissioner Jerry Girvin said the county has no need for the buildings, partly because it is buying property at the Eleventh St. Center plaza to house an office complex and library.

The state could sublease the buildings to someone, including the county, but Girvin has trepidation about getting into "another situation where we're a tenant of somebody else."

He was referring to the Bay County Public Library on the Panama City Marina, where the city owns the property and leases it to the county.

The county could not move forward with plans to build a new library there because the city would not sign a lease extension.

The largest building on the boot camp property is about 20,000 square feet and was built in 1988; the other is about 13,000 square feet and was constructed in 1994.

Ideas for use of the boot camp facility, Girvin said, have not been at the forefront of county discussion in light of what happened to cause the camp's closure.

On Jan. 6, 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died after becoming ill during the physical assessment portion of his first day in the boot camp. The incident is still under investigation.

Only one or two people working at the boot camp will have jobs with the Sheriff's Office after the camp is closed.

None of the seven drill instructors seen manhandling Anderson in the infamous boot camp video will be retained, said Sheriff Frank McKeithen.

After the tragedy, McKeithen proposed a substitute program to boot camp, called the Sheriff's Office Training and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Academy. The county subsequently refused to fund it.