Newton County Emergency Management Director Robbie Richardson informed the Board of Supervisors about some updates that have been put in place at their April 15 meeting.
Richardson said that in order to cut down on the old addresses in the dispatch system, they have been going all around the county taking count of all of them.
“As of now, the system is overrun with all of the old and unused street addresses within Newton County,” Richardson said. “We’re going block by block on the map making sure all of the addresses listed are up to date. It will make it a little easier on the 911 dispatchers.”
They have started on the outer parts of the county and will gradually work their way into each of the towns.
Sherriff Joedy Pennington updated the board members on the progression of the construction project happening at the Newton County Sherriff’s Department.
“They’ve already started on the dirt work for the maintenance building,” Pennington said. “It’ll be on the northwest corner, right up against the property line.”
Pennington also let the board know about the running list he has of the state inmates that have been held at the jail. With the NCSO housing these inmates, they are supposed to be reimbursed for the money spent to house them.
“We’ve had 2,604 days holding 52 inmates for the state of Mississippi. These inmates have either been sentenced by the circuit court or their parole has been revoked.,” Pennington said. “The way I see it, they owe us money for holding their inmates. They are charged $20 a day per inmate and on average, we’ve held each of the inmates around 52 days before they came to pick them up.”
According to Pennington, the bill for holding these inmates is $52,000. He has requested that County Administrator Steve Seale send them a bill to try and get reimbursed.
