Response to Letter to the Editor

The Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail Commission would like to address the questions raised by Mr. Hopkins’ letter (above). To quote a line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Most of the questions were answered in past issues of both the Gallatin North Missourian and the Tri-County Weekly, but we are always willing to answer anyone’s question.

While it is true that the vote was not favorable in Daviess County, the vote of the entire district passed the issue by 62 votes. This is not unlike a candidate losing one precinct but still winning the election. The concept of a regional jail has been discussed for many years to help rural counties deal with the increasing prisoner costs. Originally, Livingston, Clinton, Caldwell, Gentry, Andrew, DeKalb and Daviess were involved in discussions at various times, DeKalb and Daviess ended up as the final participants. These two counties have been working on this process for at least 10 years, including working to get legislation passed in 2000 that allowed the adoption of a sales tax for jail district funding. The formal formulation of the district occurred May 23, 2005.

The question of jury trials at the facility is no, but the question of judges going to the facility is yes. Which makes more sense or cents, transporting 10 prisoners to the courthouses for a five minute hearing or one judge traveling to the hearing? The Sheriff’s offices will always be located in their respective county seats; there is no reason to move them.

The facility’s financial records were not available because this was a private business and if they were presented to the jail commission, they would have become public records. The contract signed between Midwest Security Housing and the jail commission allowed for inspection of the books after the sales tax passed., if there were any irregularities, the jail commission was not obligated to purchase the facility.

The jail begins as a new entity on the date of transfer of the property. Any previous or existing lawsuits are the responsibility of the former operators. Anything occurring after that date is the responsibility of the jail districts.

Neither the Sheriffs nor Commissions involved on the Regional Jail Commission will receive any additional compensation. There will not be any additional deputies hired for the jail, all employees will be hired by the jail district and be solely employed by the district. The make-up of the Commission is determined by Chapter 221.405 RSMo., which states that the Commission shall be made up of the Presiding Commissioners and Sheriffs of each county.

The previous 1/2-cent law enforcement tax that was passed in Daviess County is used for the operation of the Sheriff’s Department. It has always had to be supplemented with General Revenue funds to cover the growing expense of housing prisoners. The money from this 1/2-cent sales tax will not fund any of the regional jail, just like none of the regional jail’s 1/2-cent sales tax will be used for the Sheriff’s office.

There are many businesses in DeKalb County north of Cameron besides Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart facility is fairly new, and when was the last time you heard of a Wal-Mart closing?

The question of the size of the facility has a simple answer. The number of beds unused by the two counties can be used for other counties’ prisoners, creating a cash flow that will help support the facility. Thus, reducing the years that the sales tax needs to be collected.

The public meeting information was published in both the Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 issues of the Tri-County Weekly and the Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 issues of the Gallatin North Missourian. There were citizens from around Daviess County, including Jamesport, in attendance.

We hope this answers Mr. Hopkins’ questions. We are always open to any questions from taxpayers. Thank you.

David Tolen, Chairman

Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail Commission