Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993 TAG: 9304280350
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Council passed the resolution 6-1 after supervisors Chairman Ira Long and Phipps declined an invitation to attend Tuesday night's meeting to discuss the contract.
"The Board of Supervisors feels this is a contractual matter and not appropriate for discussion in public session," said a letter from Long to Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth.
Blacksburg Council did, however, discuss the matter and decide to pass the resolution.
"Passing the resolution may well motivate the sheriff to contact us directly," said Vice Mayor Michael Chandler.
The lockup, opened in June 1991, is equipped with a fiber-optic closed-circuit television link with the county magistrate's office so prisoners don't have to be taken to Christiansburg for processing.
Council delayed action on the resolution earlier this month after receiving a letter from County Attorney Roy B. Thorpe Jr., asked them to find "more constructive ways of addressing the continued operation of the temporary detention facility."
The electronic magistrate, according to the resolution, has saved the town more than 2,000 work hours and $12,000 in vehicle maintenance a year. The average time it takes a Blacksburg officer to make an arrest has been cut from 90 to 32 minutes.
But in September, county officials gave the required 12-month notice to terminate its contract to staff the facility. The contract will expire Oct. 1. The county's reasons for pulling out of the contract were the state Compensation Board's refusal to pay for jailers to operate the lockup and state cutbacks in funding for the jail staff in Christiansburg.
Town Manager Ron Secrist said Tuesday that town officials had been trying to negotiate a new contract with the county since November, but have had little success.
Hedgepeth called the resolution, which encourages the county to renegotiate the contract with Blacksburg, "a little bit terse," but an accurate summary of the situation.
The town spent about $100,000 for the jail annex and electronic magistrate and provided $15,000 a year toward operation of the program. The county spent roughly $65,000 for the facilities and agreed to staff the jail annex.
At a council meeting earlier this month, Secrist said county officials have a different interpretation that the town does about the contract, which the two localities agreed to in 1991. Blacksburg officials think the county is not fulfilling its agreement to staff the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"This council objects to the sheriff's erratic or nonexistent staffing and operation of the jail annex," the resolution said.
The Board of Supervisors disagrees, according to Thorpe's letter, saying the county never agreed to staff the facility around the clock. The sheriff said the county is trying to staff the jail annex Thursdays through Sundays because those are the peak times for arrests in Blacksburg.
Council member Al Leighton was the only council member to vote against the resolution, saying that he wanted to meet with county officials face to face and discuss the contract.
by CNB