Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993 TAG: 9308240680
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The move would end a dispute between the localities about staffing the temporary jail annex. A public hearing on the proposal will be held Sept. 14.
If council approves the proposal, the 911 tax would be increased from 23 cents to 86 cents a month starting in mid-November.
"It has become obvious that there will be no extension of the contract" with the county, said Secrist, who developed the proposal with Blacksburg Police Chief Don Carey. "If we want to keep the facility open then this is a practical way of maintaining operations."
The lockup, opened in June 1991 as a joint venture between the town and county, is equipped with a closed-circuit television link with the county magistrate's office in Christiansburg so prisoners don't have to be taken there for processing.
The electronic magistrate, Carey said, saved the town more than 2,000 work hours and $12,000 in vehicle maintenance per year. The average time it takes a Blacksburg officer to make an arrest has been cut from 90 minutes to 32 minutes.
The town spent about $100,000 for the jail annex and electronic magistrate and provided $15,000 a year toward the operation of the program. Montgomery County spent roughly $65,000 for the facilities and agreed to staff the jail annex 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But last September, county officials gave the required 12-month notice to terminate its contract to staff the facility.
Since then, Blacksburg officials have expressed irritation at the county's "erratic or nonexistent" staffing of the jail and in May Town Council passed a resolution criticizing the county's management of the facility.
The tax increase proposed by Secrist would generate $98,809 a year, enough for the Police Department to hire and certify two full-time and one part-time officers to staff the jail.
The officers would staff the facility from Wednesday to Saturday, peak times for arrests in Blacksburg.
Carey said the new officers will free higher-paid, sworn officers to provide more coverage in their assigned patrol areas.
"I think it's a very reasonable solution for a very complex problem," he said. "Instead of having a police officer sitting in a magistrates office, they can be out on the street patrolling."
Montgomery County Sheriff Ken Phipps, who has had problems staffing the jail annex since the state eliminated funding of eight corrections officers last year, said Blacksburg's proposal to take over the facility sounds like a good solution.
"They can handle it without any difficulty," he said. "There's no doubt about it."
by CNB