Item 21 on tomorrow's Board of Supervisors agenda is the backdrop to a potential conflict between the City of Orange and the County of Orange.

The issue? The OC Sheriff Department's plan to use nearly 300 beds at the Theo Lacy (the facility across from The Block of Orange) for state prisoner "re-entry" under AB 900.

Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson is asking the Supes to:

Approve and authorize Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson, or whoever holds the office of Sheriff-Coroner, to execute and submit on behalf of the County of Orange a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007 (AB 900) funding in the amount of $100 million to the State of California.

Note the "or whoever holds the office of Sheriff-Coroner" part.

But I digress.

Anderson says the Supes need to approve the proposal tomorrow in order to meet the March 18 deadline (cutting it kind of close, aren't we?).

But members of the Orange City Council are none too happy about the proposal as it pertains to Theo Lacy. The city sent the board a letter to that effect, and it's my understanding Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, Mayor pro Tem Jon Dumitru and Councilman Denis Bilodeau and City Manager John Sibley - and possibly former Mayor Joanne Coontz - will be at the Board of Supes tomorrow to share those feelings.

At issue are the terms of the late 1990s settlement agreement the City of Orange and the County, which ended Orange's lawsuit against the County over Theo Lacy's expansion. My understanding of the judgment is Orange and the county have to agree on any changes to The Lacy operations and facilities.

In the past, the County has had Orange sign off on making an elevator shaft 13 feet higher, moving cel phone modules a few feet; shifting laundry services from lacy to Musick, among other changes to Theo Lacy operations.

The City of Orange's position is the setting aside of 292 beds for state prison convicts to undergo re-entry for the last year of their sentences before being released into the wide world of Orange ranks up there with raising an elevator shaft, and that the city should require the City's agreement.

Orange today asked the Board to hold off any action on the Theo Lacy/re-entry proposal until the City-County MOU on Lacy is amended as necessary.

Which puts the Board of Supes in a bind because the deadline for submitting the funding request in next Tuesday. I don't know if the Supes can continue approving Acting Sheriff Anderson's request until March 18 and still make the deadline -- assuming the Orange and the County can even reach an agreement that quickly.

If they can't and the Supes vote to approve Anderson's request, I wouldn't be surprised if the City of Orange files another lawsuit against the County over Theo Lacy.

Tune in tomorrow. Same Supes time, same Supes channel.