Jail Site Search May Have Come Full Circle

WATER VALLEY – It turns out the initial estimate to provide water and sewage to accommodate a jail at the county-owned property on County Road 436 may be reduced considerably.
    In February, County Engineer Carl Grubb told county officials the cost could top $600,000, a figure obtained by projecting the price tag of 10,000-foot stretch of water and sewage lines with enough capacity to to service the jail.
    That assessment essentially put the brakes on constructing the jail on the acreage donated by Carother’s Construction, now dubbed the Yalobusha County Complex.
    In the weeks and months following that meeting a number of alternate jail sites have been evaluated, both in Water Valley and Coffeeville, but it appeared at the “first Monday” supervisors’ meeting that the search has come full circle.
    On Monday, supervisors contracted with Grubb’s firm, Willis Engineering, to provide the actual cost to run the sewage and water to the Yalobusha County Complex to accommodate the increased use that will come with running a jail.
    All five supervisors were in agreement to take the step with the unanimous vote. In the agreement, Willis Engineering will also contract with Bennett Hill and John Lewis as consultants.
    “John Lewis and Bennett Hill have done a lot of leg work with an engineer to do a flow study of the system. They have a lot of information available that would save some money,” Vaughn  explained about the arrangement.
    Hill and Lewis had an existing flow study measuring the current water flow for an unrelated project.
    “The preliminary find on the water is better that we anticipated. With a little upgrade of a couple of sections I think there is plenty of water. It is the sewage that will have to be upgraded,” Vaughn explained.
    The site at the Yalobusha County Complex was favored over other sites because the county would not have to build a new sheriff’s department. In 2009, supervisors authorized Sheriff Lance Humphreys to move his department from the current jail to the new county complex in anticipation of building the jail at that site.
    “I think we can still get that (water and sewage)  done cheaper than building a sheriff’s department in another location. But we’ll see,” Vaughn added.

    Jail History
    Talk to replace the jail has been a recurring topic since 2008, after prisoner right’s attorney Ron Welch directed the county to build a new jail or quit housing state prisoners classified to work.
    Although Welch’s jurisdiction was limited to state prisoners, an equally important driving factor identified by supervisors is the lack of space. The current facility in use, constructed in 1964, only houses 24 inmates and is frequently at or over capacity.