By Ray King
By a vote of 12-1, the Jefferson County Quorum Court on Tuesday approved an ordinance to provide money to operate the adult jail.
With Justice of the Peace Alfred Carroll casting the only no vote, the county’s legislative body approved transferring nearly $231,000 from unused salaries to jail operations during a special called meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes.
Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr., in a memo Sept. 8, that food costs played a big part in the request, saying that it currently costs $1,080.98 for food at the adult detention center while food costs at the juvenile center were $328.06 daily.
Woods asked for $179,544.72 to cover food bills and another $25,700,74 to pay for medicine and drugs. Another r$16,489.38 was designated for janitorial supplies.
In that same memo, Woods noted that there was $585,712.93 available for spending in the adult jail fund and asked that a portion of that be used to cover the request.
Instead, County Judge Gerald Robinson chose to transfer money designated for salaries that was available because of unfilled positions.
After the meeting, Woods said the only thing that approving the ordinance did was to take care of the immediate need to pay vendors.
Robinson said he was glad that the Quorum Court was able to take care of Woods’ needs.
Asked if the appropriated funds will be able to cover expenses for the jail through the end of the year, Woods said this.
Asked about why he did not choose to use money n the adult jail fund, Robinson responded this way.
