Fiscal court again discusses jail financing

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November 17, 2009

By KEVIN YOUNG The Glasgow Daily Times Tue Nov 17, 2009, 12:04 PM CST

GLASGOW — The Barren County Fiscal Court again discussed the county’s financial ability to support the building of a new jail during its meeting Monday night. The magistrates and judge-executive Davie Greer weighed the risk of going forward with the multi-million dollar building project or maintaining the current facility, which is only just barely passing its state inspections.

Members of the Department of Corrections inspected the fire alarms and smoke evacuation systems in the Barren County Correction Center two weeks ago and passed the system with the understanding that a new jail was soon on the way, Greer said.

“It was approved with the understanding that we are going to do something about it. It is far from being approved, and if we decide to not go with the jail they will come back and make another report. But right now they know we are in the plans of building a jail and they are letting us slide by,” she said.

A wing of the jail was closed last December when its smoke evacuation system was deemed unsafe.

Greer said there is a strong likelihood that the state would shut down the current facility if a new jail is not built. Acting Jailer Matt Mutter said that would create a large logistics problem and many more expenses for the county.

“Of course the worst case scenario would be to close the jail and take all the inmates out, and I know we’ve been through this before, but then we’re going to have to deal with housing our inmates in another jail,” he said.

Currently, the 36-year-old facility has 108 beds but is housing around 140 inmates, including some who are sleeping on pads on the floor. State regulations allow jails to have inmates sleeping on the floor as long as they are raised at least six inches off the ground on mats, Mutter said.

Magistrate Carl Dickerson said he wanted to see it in writing from the state that the jail would be closed if a new facility is not built. He said the court voted to build the jail without knowing how the county would pay for it, and now it has committed thousands of dollars toward a site and an architect without locking into a funding plan.

“Five people on this court voted a year ago to build a new jail without knowing how we were going to pay for it. And a year later we still don’t know how in the world we are going to pay for it,” he said.

Greer said she is expecting a new financial report soon from Chip Sutherland at Hilliard-Lyons on the county’s ability to pay for a new facility, and she said she received a letter from the hired architecture firm, JKS Architects, detailing their payment plan.

“They are figuring for $10 million over 30 years at 3.90 percent that the annual cost to the county would be $521,988. We have been out more than that the last two years in repairs and costs taken out of our general fund to our jail,” she said.

Magistrate Tommy Matthews said that Greer’s repair cost figure is higher than the actual amount, because it also includes personnel and operations costs. County Treasurer Denise Riddle said she will prepare a report listing all of the monthly costs and repairs at the jail for the magistrates to review.

Greer said the court must act, because the current jail will not be able to pass inspection much longer.

“I don’t know how we’re going to do without a jail. I don’t think we can afford that option,” she said. “But if we want them to close it, they will, because it’s not as safe as they want it.”

Later in the meeting, the fiscal court voted 7-1 to approve a $60,000 transfer of funds to the jail for operating costs, with Dickerson voting no.

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