Union County Quorum Court received an update from Union County Sheriff Ricky Roberts at their monthly meeting Thursday concerning the fire that took place Aug. 15.
Roberts said that they have had inspectors looking at the damage and that a cause has been identified. Inspectors confirmed that the fire started in a walk-in cooler unit that was being used as a storage room. Roberts said there were reports of a light blinking in the unit about a week before the fire took place.
“They can’t tell us if it was the light itself,” Roberts said. “They are saying they’re moving forward either way. We just know it started in that unit.”
Roberts said that work will begin on the fire damage Oct. 1 by their insurance company. Roberts said he wasn’t sure how long the repairs are going to take, but estimated about eight weeks.
Roberts also talked about overall jail improvements to the 28-year-old facility that were previously being discussed before the fire.
Roberts broke down the jail upgrades by category, with a total estimate of cost being over $1 million.
Improvement categories include an air conditioner system, plumbing, network, main gate, sliding security doors, radios and TigerTrack, which is a public safety software.
Roberts received estimates from contractors on the needed upgrades and explained each category and the reason for the upgrade to the quorum.
“Probably one of the most important things is the network,” Roberts said. “To make everything else work, we’re going to have to have a good IT system because everything that we’re looking at, whether it’s plumbing, air conditioning, we’re looking at a computer.”
Roberts also noted that with the plumbing upgrade, it is estimated that the jail will save 40 percent on their water bill the first year. Union County Judge Mike Loftin added that 40 percent totals $2,000.
Roberts said upgrades to the air conditioning system are necessary so they can regulate the temperatures, which will be more cost efficient on their electric bill.
Benefits to radio upgrades include officer safety, full county coverage and allowing the agencies better communication. The estimated total cost for radio upgrades is about $170,000.
“We’ve got places right now in this county that you can’t talk,” Roberts said, referring to deputies not having sufficient signal. “I’ve got one guy that can’t sit in his office and listen to his radio because it doesn’t work in his office. Our lives depend on that radio and when we pick it up, we need to be able to talk.”
Roberts said the TigerTrack cost, which is around $35,000, will be reimbursed for insurance reasons. Roberts said the jail pays the fee up front, which is a certain percent each year for four years, “and after four years, they take it off our insurance.”
“We knew that it wasn’t going to be cheap,” he said. “I don’t know of very many upgrades that have been done in the past 20 years, so if you look at it, I think that’s a pretty good investment. Once we do this, if we’re able to do this, we won’t have some issues later on.”
Loftin asked the quorum if they wanted to make a motion for Roberts to start putting bids out, “so we can know how much it’s going to cost?”
Justice Carolyn Jones then moved that the quorum give Roberts permission to put the upgrade jobs up for bid, to which no justices opposed.
In other jail related business, an ordinance was passed transferring responsibility of collecting fines from the Union County District Court to the District Court Clerk’s office, located in the same building.
Roberts said he had researched the issue, including talking to the Chief Council with the Arkansas Association of Counties, who said that it was not illegal for the district court clerk to collect that money.
Roberts described the process that currently takes place. When a person goes to the sheriff’s office to pay a ticket, they go to the sheriff’s office window.
“We collect your money, we put it in our account, it’s there for a day or two and then we deposit it in our account with the bank,” Roberts explained.
Roberts said they then write a check to the district court clerk’s office, who puts it into their account. Lisa Bates, head supervisor for the district court clerk’s office, writes a check the county Treasurer, Debbie Ray, “who disperses it out to whoever it’s supposed to go,” Roberts said.
“All we’re doing is we’re wanting to streamline this process,” Roberts added.
Bates said that if the transition did take place, she would need to hire a full time position for the extra responsibilities.
Bates said that on court days, which are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they currently have someone from the sheriff’s department and the city that goes to their office to help with the duties the office currently has in place.
Bates said that Tuesdays and Thursdays are her employee’s only days to get their paperwork from court in order.
Roberts said that the transition of those responsibilities would begin on Oct. 1, to which Bates added that they would wait to request someone for the new position until January.
The ordinance was passed with no justices opposing.
In non-jail related business, an ordinance was passed appropriating over $360,000 for asphalt.
The funds were from $100,000 grant funds (fixing Dollar Jct. Road), $25,000 (fixing W. State Line Road) and about $243,000 in highway reimbursements.
Loftin said that over half of the $243,000 amount was from the gravel and asphalt put on the parking lot of Junction City school’s new gym.
The ordinance was passed 8-2 with Justices Dean Storey and Will Crowder voting against it and Justin Hendrix being absent from the meeting.
“We ended up, at the last meeting, taking $2 million out of solid waste and putting it into the asphalt fund,” Crowder said. “I’m not agreeing too much with us funneling money into the asphalt fund. $970,000 is what we average a year on asphalt and this year we’re up to $5 million.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].