Haywood County Leaders Discuss Funding for Jail Certification
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Both the Haywood County Jail Committee and the Public Safety Board met again, Thursday evening, to decide how to keep taxes down and still staff the brand new jail effectively. The debate is over $320,000. Sheriff Melvin Bond said he told county commissioners for months that he needs about 31 officers on his staff. He is currently working with 21. On Thursday evening, Sheriff Bond brought in the fifth jail expert to plead his case. Commissioners said that experts come and go and can’t seem to agree on just how much help the jail needs. With an unannounced TCI inspection slated to happen before the end of the year, everyone agrees time is running out. “We have to quit band-aiding it. We have to fix it right,” said Haywood County Commissioner Robert Green. “If we get an expert in here next week, he’ll give us another number. That’s my opinion. There’s only one person who knows how to run the jail and what they need,” said Haywood County Commissioner Joe Stephens. By the end of the meeting, both the Public Safety Board and the Jail Committee members agreed that Sheriff Bond should request $320,000 from the Budget Committee, which would pay for ten additional jailers. The next budget committee meeting is Wednesday night.
