Grant County fiscal court discusses jail matters

Judge/Executive Chuck Dills called the March 5 Grant County Fiscal Court meeting to order with all magistrates in attendance. District 2 Magistrate Shawna Coldiron attended via Zoom with Magistrates District 1 Jacqalynn Riley and District 3 Roger Humphries in person. Agenda items included board appointments, advertising of bids and a road extension resolution.

Jailer Troy Hagedorn reported 220 total inmates with 168 being state inmates. During their current “request for beds” Hagedorn said he, Dills and Chief Deputy Jackie Bodenhamer had discussed “inmates that were serving in our programs that were getting ready to graduate out." 

When inmates graduate out, they are sent to another facility instead of staying in the Grant County Detention Center. This takes away revenue for the jail. (Apparently, there was miscommunication concerning the fact Grant County has facilities for Grant County inmate program graduates to move to the second level.)

After their discussion, he said changes started “rolling out” this week, and Grant County will be able to keep the graduates and move them into their onsite program.

Hagedorn said an air conditioning unit for the jail’s services center “went out” but was replaced before any damage was done to equipment. He said though it was a 2019 unit, there had already been other problems.

In addition to nearly $2,000 in repairs already paid, it was going to cost close to $5,000 for the most recent outage repair. To stave off future costs, the decision was made to purchase a new unit for $9,700.

Hagedorn invited the court to come tour the jail as a “prelude for the budget process.”

“Let’s eyeball some things instead of me trying to tell you about things…let’s look at them first hand," he suggested.

In the past, inmates have done jobs such as trash pickup and mowing around the county. Hagedorn said they have been asked for inmate workers, but retention of deputies makes that challenging. He said they have to have a certain amount of personnel with training to be able to do jobs offsite.

To that end, Bodenhamer has been authorized to conduct in-house training/retraining of local officials for the use of inmates by the city and county.

Resolution 2024-02 “Extending Delaney Road (041 CR-1142)” concerning the “new connector road on Delaney and Blanchette.” The state purchased the land and extended the road. 

Road Supervisor Steve Tatum has taken measurements of the section of the road to reflect the total 3,683 feet. With this approval, the corrected measurements of an additional 2,463 feet of road will be “forwarded on to the state” and subsequently added to county plans and roads.

Sheriff Brian Maines said his department has a new deputy from Jacksonville. The individual has five years experience in law enforcement. Maines said the new hire started training on March 4, though it will take “a few months” to get “him out.”

Maines said his department has four openings at this time.

Appointments:

• Michelle Williamson Lustenberg was approved to the 109 Board effective March 5 and expiring Dec. 31, 2027.

• Steve Moerlein was approved to serve as Intermittent Building Inspector, effective March 5. According to Dills, “Tony Ashcraft, our current building inspector, is going to be out on some surgery and we are going to need somebody to cover for six to eight weeks.” 

The court approved the annual notice for bid to “advertise for bids for the Grant County Road Department Materials and Supplies for Fiscal year 2024-2025.” One change is to “remove liquid asphalt.”

The advertising will be posted in the Grant County News. Bids will close on April 12 at 4 p.m.

Magistrates Reports:

• District 3 (Crittenden area): Humphries reported there will be a  ribbon cutting at new venue at the park March 14. There is some roadwork in the northern end of the county. Tatum will be looking into the issue of flooding.

• District 1 (Williamstown/Corinth area): Riley reported working on normal housekeeping things.

• District 3 (Dry Ridge area): Coldiron had nothing to report.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 19 at 4:30 p.m. The meeting will be via Zoom. For more information, call 859-823-7561.