Quorum Court holds quick meeting, tours jail expansion

All members of the Izard County Quorum Court were present last Monday evening, gathering in the small courtroom at the Detention Center rather than at the courthouse as is the norm.   The reason?  An opportunity for those in attendance to tour the new expansion to the jail facility following adjournment of the Court.

Prior to calling the meeting to order, Izard County Judge Eric Smith invited four candidates for various circuit judge positions that will be on the ballot next March to address the Court.

First to speak was incumbent Judge Holly Meyer who proceeded to introduce herself to those in the room who may not already have met her.  A brief recap of her judicial and legal background and accomplishments followed, ending with a request for support in her upcoming bid for reelection.

Next up was public defender and attorney Thomas Kendrick, who is seeking the Circuit Court, 16th District, Division 2 judge position.  He also quickly recapped his experience as a public defender and his involvement and belief in the Drug Court alternative treatment program.  He also concluded by asking for support in the election.

Maureen Harrod, who had previously addressed the Court on her run for a circuit judge position, said hello and was asking for folks to sign her petition to get on the ballot.

The final judicial candidate to address the Court was Kara Byars, who is also seeking the Division 2 position.  As did her predecessors, she shared a bit about her background, current city (Salem) and county (Fulton) attorney service and her dedication to family law.  Concluding her remarks, Byars also asked for support in the upcoming election.

Moving into regular business, and with no Old Business on the agenda, Judge Smith moved along introducing Appropriation Ordinance 2025-12 for JP consideration.  The ordinance, if approved, would appropriate $28,000 received from a recycling grant into the Machinery & Equipment county line item.

Additionally, another $20,000 was to be appropriated from the General fun to be used to assist the City of Melbourne in resurfacing the roadway encircling the courthouse square.  The Court quickly approved the ordinance as read by County Clerk Joe Cooper.

 

Judge Smith took a moment to advise the Court that October 27th marks the 200th anniversary of the creation of Izard County.  A banner is planned for the courthouse square and a chili cookoff is tentatively planned for October 4 which would coincide with the city-wide yard sale.

 

Before adjourning and moving on for the tour, Judge Smith asked elected officials if they had anything to share with the Court.

 

Sheriff Charley Melton advised receipt of a $61,000 grant which will be used to equip all patrol cars with computers and prints, bringing the department up to speed technologically by eliminating the need to write paper tickets, accident reports and other paperwork.

 

It should be noted that the October meeting of the Quorum Court will return to the courthouse however will meet one hour later than usual at 6:00 to enable a couple of JPs to attend kid’s volleyball games.

 

The tour of the new jail expansion began with Curtis Sigler, a representative of the design/engineering firm that was engaged to develop and construct the expansion shared a bit about the complexities of adding on to an existing, functioning detention facility.  The new building is also configured in such a way that it could be easily added on to in the future.

 

For security reasons, the group proceeded around the outside of the building, stopping first at the reconfigured sallie port where prisoners are off or on-loaded from vehicles.  Moving around to the rear of the building, the new construction of the addition and how it joined the existing structure was evident.

 

Around the rear, the new outdoor exercise yard was entered with the group moving inside the new building from that point of access.  Various rooms were viewed with photos allowed.  The new inmate housing “pod” built to hold 20 inmates was accessed next featuring a main level and a mezzanine, each able to hold ten guests.

 

With the work 90% complete, the facility appeared well on the way to being open for business in the not-too distant-future.  Total cost of the project amounted to approximately $3.2 million with most if not all coming out of the ARPA funds received by the county.