Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 29, 1993 TAG: 9306290183
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The supervisors more or less said maybe.
The board approved a motion by Bruce Fariss authorizing the New River Valley Planning District Commission to negotiate with architectural and engineering consultants on the costs of the required study. The board would not, however, commit any money to it at this stage.
Pulaski County had joined the counties of Montgomery, Floyd, Giles and Wythe and the city of Radford last year in funding a $26,500 study as the first step toward securing state funding on half the cost of building a regional jail.
But the 1993 General Assembly changed the requirements so that now more and different data are needed.
The cost of providing the new study is estimated at $75,000; Pulaski County's share would be $30,783.
Each locality's cost is based on its inmate population and general population.
Pulaski County has the largest figure in both categories.
"We put some money into this and now we're being asked to put additional money in," Fariss said. "I was told we could back out any time we want to. Well, the number's getting bigger. . . . I can see us putting money into this to the point where we don't think we can back out."
He said he wants to find out from Sheriff Ralph Dobbins and others whether the county really wants to give operational jail control to a regional board. It could mean the loss of inmate labor on trash trucks and elsewhere, he said.
If the county intends to back out, Fariss said, it should do so now.
County Administrator Joseph Morgan suggested allowing the Planning District Commission to get its proposals from consultants on costs for the additional study. Meanwhile, the staff can arrange for the sheriff and other officials to give their views on the regional jail at the board's next meeting July 26.
by CNB