On Tuesday, Aug 9, the Hart County Board of Commissioners (BOC) held a public hearing for the financing of the new jail to be built before ultimately approving its financing.
The new $26,178,219 jail is to be built on a lot adjacent to the Whitworth Women’s Facility off Bowman Highway, and it will house 229 beds along with administrative space for jail staff, according to county documents.
When the board opened the floor for public comment, no one voiced their opposition to the cost or tax method for how the jail was to be paid.
“This is just a procedure required by law for everything we do in case somebody wanted to oppose the jail or oppose financing it,” Commissioner Marshall Sayer said. “Today was [the public’s] opportunity to speak.”
Sayer said the county has a need for a new facility due to “obsolete” features of the current jail.
“Ever since I’ve been on the board the grand jury has come to us and told us that we need to upgrade the jail,” Sayer said. “We’re out of space. We have more inmates than we do beds, and [Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland] has come to us numerous times pleading with us to build a new one.
“We’re also having to make parts for the jail because everything in it is obsolete: door locks, switchboard parts, and a lot more, they’re all obsolete. We’re having to have people make parts for the obsolete things in the jail and it’s an expense.”
Sayer went on to remark about gas prices and how it has impacted Hart County taxpayers having to pay for the transportation of inmates to different county jails.
“We’re having to house inmates to other counties, and with the [price] of gas right now the way it is, it’s not good,” Sayer said.
Sheriff Mike Cleveland has advocated for the building of a new jail for years, citing various issues with the jail and how it is impacting jail staff.
“If we don’t do something soon – the whole place [current jail] is falling apart,” Cleveland said in June. “The sewer is just shot up there. It is an ongoing, weekly problem. The pipes are too small to accommodate the commodes being flushed for 50 inmates.
“We have 50 beds back there. On an average we can have up to 70 and 80 inmates, and we have had 100 and over 100 from time to time. Now we’re just doubling up and trying to get bonds, doing anything we can to put a band-aid on the problem. Everyday is a day closer to what in the hell are we going to do? There’s not any jails that are going to take [inmates]. They’re full, they’ve got the same problems that we do.”
In other news:
•The board approved the purchase of three new cruisers from the Georgia State Patrol.
•The board approved the resolution to grant authority to Stephens County Hospital to open, own, and operate Dr. Carl Zooberg’s orthopedic office.
•The board denied the variance request of Michael and Elaine Bishop.
•The board approved the variance request of Mia Simpson.
•The board approved the LOST agreement.
•The board approved the GDOT rumble strip request.