DUPLIN SHERIFF GETS GREEN LIGHT TO USE SEIZED ASSET FUNDS FOR NEW JAIL

KENANSVILLE - A split board voted in favor of allowing the Sheriff
Blake Wallace have professional architects help with site selection
and preliminary designs for possible new jail.

Advice from Brennan Architects LLC will cost $87,000 and will be paid
for by the federal Asset Forfeiture Program. It will be of no cost to
taxpayers, said Wallace to commissioners Monday, when he asked for a
vote to move forward.

Having architects define the county's options for a new a jail will
not commit Duplin to construction of one, said Wallace when chairman
Cary Turner posed a question regarding the county's responsibility. In
addition to locating possible jail sites, the scope of work, according
to a letter from architect James Brennan, will include conceptual
designs as will preliminary estimates of the project costs.

The goal is to find a solution to the overflowing inmate problem the
Sheriff's Office has been facing. According to the sheriff, his office
pays, on average, $25,000 to $30,000 a month to neighboring facilities
which house their inmates. That money would be better spent on a debt
service, commissioner David Fussell has previously said.

Wallace approached commissioners Monday with his capital need again.
His request was to use his seized assets to pay for services from an
architectural firm that would present all available options and costs
should the county decide to move forward with such a project.

Before being called to a vote, Fussell asked county manager Mike
Aldridge, "Shouldn't this be a part of the five-year plan?" Aldridge
replied that the need for the jail was known. Fussell then asked if
the jail would take priority over building a new school. "We need to
have a long range five-year-plan ... not stand-alone projects," said
Fussell

The need to address the inmate problem has been long standing, said
the sheriff. "I have been talking about this for four years ... We are
having to pay bills," to other counties to hold the overflowing
inmates. "We are in dire straights."

Turner showed a sign of support for the sheriff when he said he would
like to see options on the table, however, not all commissioners agreed.

Fussell told Wallace, "I don't think that this board is committed to
building you a new jail."

Speaking on the five-year-plan, commissioner Zettie Williams asked
Aldridge if a plan was near completion. The county manager said that
it was not done, though one could be provided at the next board
meeting in two weeks. But, he added, there would be a major part
missing from the plan - the capital needs from the school system.

The services from Brennan will deal with the concept of a proposed
facility and sketches of a facility, said Aldridge. Other steps, like
the architectural design and construction would follow only if
commissioners made a motion to continue the process.

Commissioner Reginald Wells made the motion to allow the sheriff to
spend $87,000 for Brennan's services; France Parks seconded. Fussell
blocked, the vote calling the issue to be tabled. Support for his
block was seconded by Williams.

The first vote to table the issue tied 3-3, with Williams, Turner, and
Fussell voting for and Parks, Harold Raynor, and Wells voting against.

In a second vote, to allow Wallace to spend the seized money, the vote
was 4-2 in favor with Turner, Wells, Parks and Raynor voting for and
Fussell and Williams against.

Money

Paying other jails to house inmates has been costly to Duplin. They
were projected by the sheriff to spend $240,000 this year for the uses
of other facilities. The need will not go away, and more beds are
needed, said Wallace.

In December, Duplin owed the Sampson County Sheriff's Department
$35,500 for rented bed space.

Sampson charges $50 a head per night in its jail. Not only is it
costly, said Duplin's sheriff, but officers have to transport the
inmates to Sampson and back to Duplin for court. The $50 a night plus
cost of gas used in transporting the inmates and the time it takes
away from officers is too great of a price to pay, it has been argued.

Presented as a capital need in late 2008, Wallace estimated cost of a
new jail at $16 million.