Stanislaus County Supervisors Watch

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. today in the basement chamber at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St., Modesto.

The board is scheduled to:

• Make more low-risk jail inmates eligible for alternate work programs by adjusting participation rules. When work crews began in 1987, inmates were eligible to pick up trash and remove graffiti around the county during the last 45 days of a sentence, stay home at night and report to work in the day. That was expanded to the last 90 days in 2007 and would increase to the last year of a given sentence if approved today. Widening eligibility could free badly needed jail space, boost some county services and bring in an extra $151,000 per year because participants are charged $10 per day, a report reads.

• Approve another five-year deal providing police services to Riverbank. Deputy sheriffs have patrolled that city for 15 years and would continue for about $3.37 million per year.

• Lease a larger Ceres building for Women, Infants and Children, which helps 4,400 pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers and children per month. The office at 3109 Whitmore Ave. is one-third the size of a 3,000-square-foot space near a bus stop on Mitchell Road, just north of Hatch Road. The five-year lease would cost $54,000 per year, increasing to $58,320 the third year.

• Call for comments on Community Development Block Grant programs in unincorporated areas and in Ceres, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson and Waterford. The programs have rebuilt streets and built sidewalks in some communities, provided job training in others and include assistance for several food pantries and emergency shelters. The county will hold a public hearing Sept. 21 for an annual report.

-- Garth Stapley