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HUNTSVILLE — Scott County Sheriff Anthony Lay presented his most convincing argument yet on his plan to add 18 beds to the new jail facility, but his request failed to come to a vote of county commission here Monday night.

Sheriff Lay says he needs approximately $20,000 from the county to add plumbing fixtures to accommodate 18 new beds to the 138-bed facility at the Scott County Justice Center.

For that expense, Lay said, the return could be upwards of $230,000 annually if utilized for state prisoners (at a rate of $35 per day reimbursement from the state).

Appearing with Lay in an apparent effort to beef up his case were two Tennessee Corrections Institute officials, Barry Suttles and Joe Ferguson.

Suttles said he was the one who discovered that the square footage of the new Scott County Jail would allow additional beds in two of the male pods — an architectural mistake he called “an error in your benefit.”

By adding additional sinks and toilets, Suttles said, 18 beds could easily be added — metal bunks which could be moved from the old jail to the new without much expense, Sheriff Lay pointed out.

Ferguson, a former Macon County sheriff, told the commissioners that in 2001, his department moved from an aging 24-bed jail facility to a new justice center which featured a 118-bed jail. At that time, the Macon County Commission earmarked the income from housing state prisoners to retire the $6 million debt.

“When I left office in 2006,” Ferguson said, “every penny [paid on the facility] came from state inmates.”

Sheriff Lay argues that by housing as many as 60 state prisoners in the new facility, Scott County taxpayers could realize a savings of around $870,000 a year on his $1.1 million annual budget.

“It’s a good way for the citizens to get a break and help fund this thing,” Sheriff Lay said.

During the 45-minute presentation Sheriff Lay had originally thought would take 15 minutes, he also made another pitch for cooked meals rather than the current practice of serving TV dinners.

Sheriff Lay, along with help from both Suttles and Ferguson, indicated that locally prepared meals could actually result in a cost savings.

Sheriff Lay stated that the TV dinners cost $1.75 each, plus 35¢ for milk, 10¢ for bread and the cost of a required daily snack for each prisoner housed in the jail. He said Anderson County is currently serving cooked meals for $1.15 each.

With the pun apparently intended, Lay called this proposal “food for thought” as yet another way of saving taxpayers money.

As the discussion continued, Commissioners Paul Stunk and Alan Reed posed several questions, many of which centered around when inmates would be moved to the new facility, Strunk saying flatly that he wanted “to get past this delay and excuses” and see the new jail occupied as soon as possible.

“My big concern, based on having 50 state prisoners, is that we’re looking at a serious budget shortfall (if the move is delayed further).

Sheriff Lay maintained that he can’t make the move without his new computer system arriving and being installed, as well as other items such as inmate uniforms and bedding.

The sheriff said he was making plans to move his administrative offices first, followed by jail inmates.

After much discussion on the subject, it was revealed that the move could be competed within a matter of weeks.

Reed expressed concerns about a potentially dangerous security problem at the new justice center in a hallway that separates the courtrooms from the jail portion of the facility.

Sheriff Lay said he is working to get a meeting set up with court officials and clerks to get a security system in place as soon as possible.

Scott County Mayor Rick Keeton said he understood that it was designed as “a non-public hallway” and he didn’t want to see it turned into “a water cooler meeting place” that could result in losing control of security in the facility.

SCHOOL MATTERS

November 6 has been set as the date for a joint meeting of county commission and the Scott County Board of Education to review preliminary drawings for a new school at Robbins and major renovations at Burchfield Elementary School.

That was the announcement made by Scott County Director of Schools during her appearance before the commission early on in Monday night’s meeting.

Wilson said the meeting would begin at 5:30 p.m. in the newly remodeled basement of the Board of Education Building. Also present will be architects from Upland Design in Crossville to present preliminary plans for a new school at Robbins and “three different versions” of what could be done at Burchfield utilizing the present site and “a piece of property adjoining” the current school site, Wilson said.

She also informed the commissioners that students have completed one-fourth of the current school year; that roof repair projects had been completed for both the technology building on U.S. 27 in Helenwood, and Huntsville Elementary School; and that the energy conservation project launched in the summer was nearing completion.

Commissioner Mike Slaven, passing on a question from one of his constituents that he couldn’t answer, asked Wilson why the school board didn’t hire its own SROs (school resource officers).

She provided a two-fold answer: 1) the money would have to come from local taxpayers, since the state provided no funds for school security purposes; and, 2) Even if the money were made available, SROs are under the direct supervision of the sheriff, and not the school system.

Wilson pointed out that the school system currently employees off-duty deputies as security personnel at basketball, football and soccer games, as a requirement of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA) rules.

ROAD MATTERS

“If you hear me complain about one of the county roads, you know it’s bad,” Road Supt. Dick Sexton told county commissioners Monday night as he explained the deteriorating condition of Norma Road due to heavy coal and logging truck traffic.

“We need to work with National Coal and put some money in escrow to do something with that road up there. It’s absolutely pitiful for these people who drive that road,” Sexton said, adding that it would cost his department a million dollars to fix it.

The irony, Sexton pointed out, is that most of the coal being mined is actually in Campbell County, and that Scott County does not receive the state coal severance tax money to keep the road in a good state of repair.

IN OTHER BUSINESS . . .

• Ambulance Service Director Jim Reed informed the commissioners that the Scott County Ambulance Service will soon begin negotiations with Georgia-based Southern Transportation for the fees for transporting non-emergency TennCare patients.

Reed also said that the Medicaid crossover payments remains in limbo and could cost the county anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 in revenue if the state legislature approves the governor’s recommendation about the 20% cut in funding for ambulance service runs;

• The commission heard a report from Mayor Keeton concerning the need for a meeting with officials of St. Mary’s “probably next month” to discuss a contract extension request for providing health services locally;

• On a motion by Willie Boyatt, the commission voted 9-0 to go on record in opposition to Tennessee’s Public Chapter 1108 (The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act) due to it being an unfunded state mandate;

• On a motion by Joel Newport, the commission voted 8-1 in favor of allocating $18,200 in an effort to rebind 43 aging county record books in the Register of Deeds Office — a measure which also includes the funds necessary to obtain an electronic copy of the 1849-1933 deed books;

• Approved without being read aloud a series of proclamtions in recogniton of Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11), Fraud & Financial Abuse Awareness Month (October), and National Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October);

• Voted to approve the Finance Committee’s recommendation to accept Byrd Fencing’s bid ($6,110) to install a six-foot chain link fence with vinyl slats on the north end wall of the Scott County Justice Center with three strands of barbed wire at the top;

• Approved the recommendation of the State Director of Local Finance to make the Sewer Utility Fund a part of the Budget Resolution for Scott County for the 2008-2009 fiscal year; and,

• Authorized allocating up to $500 to establish a covered smoking and vending machine area on a concrete slab near the Scott County Justice Center.