It was back to the drawing board for the DeKalb County Commission last week, after two referendums concerning a proposed judicial center were defeated by voters during last Tuesday’s election. Voters said “No” to up to $65 million in bonds to fund the proposal, as well as a $50 wheel tax that would have been used to offset a recent 51-cent property tax hike, implemented to fund the project.

With funding for the project rejected by voters, the DeKalb Jail Committee, recently adjusted to include all county commissioners, had to act and show measured progress on the jail issue to avoid the state decertifying the current DeKalb County Jail. The jail has been under a “Plan of Action” with the state, over the number of beds and individual cells in the facility, closing the old portion of the jail and reducing the number of inmates that could be housed there.

During a meeting last Thursday, the newly reorganized Jail Committee’s first issue was to elect officers. Commissioner Larry Green was voted as the new chairman of the committee, while Commissioner Mathias Anderson was elected vice chair. Commissioner Beth Pafford was nominated and elected as the committee’s secretary.

The committee then took up the issue of what to work towards next. Several on the committee expressed a desire to continue looking at a judicial center, though perhaps a scaled back design with a lower number of beds. The original plan the county had set its eyes on was a 190-bed facility with office space for the sheriff’s department, and several courtrooms.

“I think we came up with a plan we thought was a good plan, and we put the costs to it. The people of the county, who hired us to do the work, voted 85 percent against it. I don’t know how you convince that many people to flip their vote to be able to support this, but we have to come up with some compromise to satisfy TCI (Tennessee Corrections Institute) and get what they need for us to be state certified, and at the same time satisfy our taxpayers,” said Green.

TCI Deputy Director Bob Bass was at the meeting, saying the state was there to work with the county, but also warned that the county needed to show progress on the issue or the state would act. “I’m here to report back to our board what DeKalb County is going to do. That is my focus tonight. If I leave here tonight, and you can’t tell me you are building a jail, you are not going to be certified.”

Bass then suggested that the county look at simply building a jail with future room for expansion and possibly even a judicial center in phases. “It’s my job to see that you retain certification, and I am going to do everything I can to help you do that. Our next step is for you to decide, and tell me tonight, that this committee is going to look at jail construction. The voters said no to a criminal justice center, but they didn’t say you couldn’t do the jail.”

Bass then recommended that the county look at a 150-bed jail, with possibly shell space for future expansion. He also suggested the jail have an arraignment room for preliminary court proceedings to occur on site. He said this would eliminate part of the transportation issue to and from the DeKalb County Courthouse.

“I know it won’t be a criminal justice center. If you put in a small courtroom inmates could be brought right from the cell to there. It will help with security and take some of the cost away of transporting them.”

In the end, the committee voted to approve to the full commission that the county move forward with plans for building a jail. The committee approved the motion unanimously.

The next steps for the committee will be how many beds, and a location. By building a jail only, the county could look at sites outside the city limits. If a judicial center was built, it would be mandated that it be located within the city limits of the county seat (Smithville), but a jail could be located within the county.

The design for a jail facility will also have to be approved, with state officials suggesting that inmate programs could help alleviate jail population programs. Whatever the committee decides, it is obvious that they have a lot of work to do.