Fiscal Court updated on Detention Center’s programs, popularity

Fulton County Judge/Executive Jim Martin reported during the Aug. 13 meeting of the Fiscal Court that at one time Fulton County was known to take the worst inmates in the state.

“The jail was built on this reputation and that is not a bad thing,” stated Judge Martin.

“Letters are being received now from inmates and people from different parts of the state are writing letters requesting to be incarcerated at Fulton County because of the programs that are offered, including the welding program, the SAP (Substance Abuse Program), and the GED (General Education Diploma) program. We have had a flip-flop in image of the jail and I think that is a very positive thing. A jail doesn’t need a place where there are always negative things going on. There are great positive and rehabilitating things also,” continued Martin.

All these benefits help the inmates when they are released from jail.

The Fulton County Sheriff Derek Goodson stated, “The office is in the process of purchasing a 2018 Ford Explorer under state contract, that will be paid out of their fee account, and I need the Magistrates approval before I can go ahead with the purchase. The amount to be paid will be $37,831.”

Magistrate George A. Jones said, “No offense to you Derek at all, but I can’t vote for it. We voted for a van and put the money and are not going to get it, so I can’t vote for you to purchase a new vehicle.”

Judge Martin asked, “Why do you think you need a van George?”

Jones replied, “The county has always had a van. We need it when we go to conference.”

Judge Martin said, “Don’t you think that should be left up to the new court to decide.”

Jones stated, “Why? We voted for it. This court voted for it. You telling us this court has no authority at all.”

Martin replied, “I didn’t say that at all. I was just asking why you would not vote for a police vehicle because of that.”

Jones said, “I don’t know if he will get it. We didn’t get the van.”

Magistrate Henry Callison asked, “This is your own money, correct?”

Jones said, “If it is their money, okay.”

The Magistrates agreed the van needs to be purchased since they voted for it.

It was reported Fulton County Dispatch hired two part-time employees, Ashton Williams and April Wheeler.

The Magistrates amended Jim Eakes’ pay to go back to regular pay effective Aug. 15, following an increase because of extra work at the Detention Center, with Magistrate Callison voting “No”.

Jail Construction bills were discussed, with Magistrate Callison asking for a separate sheet on Barry Joe Jackson, Lyman Meador, and Jesse Sanders to show how much they have made since the beginning.

Judge Martin stated, “We have that right here. As a matter-of-fact I was going to give you a report as to where we stand on the kitchen project.”

“As you recall we sold bonds, $1,750,000 and estimated the cost to be on labor. We made a decision on about $600,000 we thought we could save and carve out of the $1.7 million project. We reimbursed the jail for about $147,000 for money they spent with SM Lawrence during the tornado repair and discovery of electrical and plumbing problems. Set aside $15,000 for the Smoke Evac system in the annex, which the Department of Corrections was requiring; another $60,000 of the sewer lift station on 300 Block and loaned the Ambulance Service $378,000,” continued Martin.

“Since that time, now that we’ve had a little more experience on what’s going on, here is the way it stacks up. We added $31,600 in addition electronic safety stuff that was not in the plan, tying the kitchen back to dispatch. Omitted from the budget was $85,600 of piping and other things that were not in the original budget of a little over $1.1 million. There were also unforeseen subsurface issues that were encountered, piping under the building, drainage systems, electronic work, all that we didn’t know about. We estimated the cost to be about $80,000,” stated Martin.

“We had some equipment rental, we were told equipment left over from 300 Block was in working order and we did not have any of that in the working budget totaling about $39,000. There were weather delays and three individuals without having a whole lot of productivity, plank issues with the rooftop system. We had an $8,000 loss on the ovens. The net effect is we had about a $290,000 cost not in the original budget. When you add that back to the net anticipated savings, we missed by about 6% and when you give account to the things we didn’t know about, you can’t hold anyone accountable. Fortunately, we did this work ourselves and not go through a third party. Our projected savings is down to about $250,000,” reported Martin.

Magistrate Jones asked, “Do you have an estimate of when you will be able to open the doors and start using the addition?”

Jailer Steven Williams stated, “No. We are looking at getting a roof on this week or next, and from there it is as simple as getting everything ready on the inside including the wiring, setting the equipment, getting hooked up to electrical system, plumbing system, and painting.”

Martin said, “We are over on the plumber, but about $30,000 is on equipment we had to rent. We are projected he will be at about $72,000. The electrician was estimated at about $12,500 and he will be over about $26,318, a $15,000 over budget. We still owe the architect $27,000, project manager is over $22,200 with a great deal being where he had to redesign the roof, weather delays and spent two months with all the underground issues, making him $42,000 over budget. We are still able to build the project $500,000 below cost on the market.”

Magistrate Billy “Bubba” Nelms, Jr., asked, “Do we have an engineer drawing of the building when done?”

Judge Martin replied, “Yes. We still owe him his final payment and he will get that when we get the engineer drawing.”

Magistrates voted to accept the transfer of property in Fulton Circuit Court Case No. 16-CR-00066 and authorized to auction it as surplus property. Following the auction 15% of the bid price will go to Commonwealth Attorney Mike Stacey and 85% will go to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to be put into their drug fund.

There was discussion on qualifications to be a member of the Madrid Bend Levee Board, with the discussion to continue at the next meeting.

In other business, the court:

• Approved using the $3,600 given to the cities of Fulton and Hickman and put it toward an Animal Control officer that will cover the whole county. The vehicle, maintenance, insurance and response fee will be the responsibility of the County. The dog catcher will be responsible for the fuel.