A called meeting is set for next Tuesday to address a conflict between the City of Blackshear and the sheriff and county over housing city inmates in the county jail, operations of E-911 and yard waste concerns.
The called meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Southeast Georgia Regional Agriculture Center at the corner of College Avenue and Main Street.
Commissioners agreed to call the called meeting during their regular monthly meeting last week, but even that was on a split 3-2 vote, illustrating the disagreement between the two governments. Chairman Neal Bennett and first district commissioner Harold Rozier Jr. both voted against having the called meeting.
Bennett and Rozier Jr. both felt the called meeting was unnecessary since the sheriff was already preparing a proposal to be sent to the city.
The City of Blackshear sent a letter to the county and the sheriff requesting a meeting and action on the three issues. The letter was accompanied by 68 pages of documents supporting the city’s concerns and claims.
“We have and will continue to take these matters very seriously and trust the (commission) will do the same. We believe each of you will agree, matters dealing with the safety of our citizens and public safety officials are of the utmost importance,” said Blackshear Mayor Keith Brooks.
The inmate housing issue has been debated since December, 2020 and was the subject of a lawsuit by the city against Sheriff Ramsey Bennett in early 2021. A judge ruled the sheriff was bound to take city inmates, but left open the cost to be worked out between the governments.
The city has offered $45 per day to the sheriff to house its inmates in the Pierce County Jail. Sheriff Bennett has rejected the offer as too low, since he estimates the actual cost of housing prisoners is $62 per day. Meanwhile, however, after the completion of an addition to the Pierce County Jail, the sheriff charges $45 per day to house inmates from surrounding counties.
In December of last year, the city learned Sheriff Bennett, in his role as director of the E-911 center, had directed dispatchers to dispatch certain calls to sheriff’s deputies instead of Blackshear Police, despite those calls being within the jurisdiction of the City of Blackshear. The E-911 center was an independent department in county government until 2019 when it was placed under Sheriff Bennett’s supervision.
The city has asked for the creation of an independent advisory board to administer the 911 center.
The third issue will allow for the county to dump storm debris into the city’s landfill on Floyd Drive in the event of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. The city allowed the county to do during Hurricanes Matthew and Irma in 2017.The city did not charge for the use of the landfill, but federal rules require an intergovernmental agreement between the city and county be in place for the county to be eligible for federal emergency fund reimbursement.
