Let there be LED lights in Carroll County’s government buildings --- well almost.
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors received a sticker shock they were not expecting. The county has been in the process of changing over the lighting in the courthouse, library and extension office in Carrollton and the courthouse and library in Vaiden. The board was approved for a grant to help with expenses, but it won’t cover as much of a cost as they originally thought.
For the Carrollton project, the board has to put in $40,000, and the project has a total price of $61,000. For the Vaiden project, the board will have to put in $5,000, and the project has a total cost of $20,000.
Shane Correro with Willis Engineering said he and Trey Wiggins along with Edison are also trying to get a $10,000 grant that has yet to be acquired.
“I thought this was supposed to be 100 percent savings, it ain’t the 100 percent savings like we thought it was,” Board President Ricky Corley said.
Board members said they were under the impression the amount of money they had to pitch in wouldn’t be much.
“He said that we would have to pay in, but the savings would pay it back,” Supervisor Claude Fluker said.
Supervisor Jim Neill said he thinks the board should move forward with the Vaiden project and do more research on the Carrollton project before moving forward.
“I think we can find someone to do it a little cheaper than that,” Supervisor Dill Tucker said.
Corley asked Sheriff Clint Walker who helped install the LED lights in the jail when they switched over.
“The prisoners did it,” he said. “We have some good electricians.”
Corley asked Correro if the price of the Carrollton project was more so labor or lights.
“Half and half,” he said.
But, the savings for those lights may pay for themselves. Fluker said Brandon Smith, warden at the Carroll-Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility, said the jail saves $1,000 a month on their light bill.
In other business:
• Agreed to extend their contract with MedStat
• Approved paying Constable Joe Holman $199 in mileage for taking prisoners a long distance.
Corley wanted to know who determines whether Holman transports the prisoners or if the sheriff’s department transports them.
“If the judge issues the warrant to me, then I have to go get them, but if the judge issues it to the sheriff’s department, then they have to go get them,” Holman said. “They’re out working hard, solving crimes, I can’t ask them to go get my prisoners; I have to go get them myself.”
He said he’s been absorbing the cost of his mileage on his own, but as gas gets higher, it’s harder for him to absorb it.
“Sugar, how have we been paying him? Have we been paying him mileage?” Corley asked.
“Yeah, we’ve been paying him, but he hasn’t been here in a while,” Chancery Clerk Sugar Mullins said. Holman agreed that he'd been paid in the past, but he’s been taking on the cost alone. After consulting with board attorney Kevin Horan, the board voted to pay Holman.
• Heard from Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton on the condition of the voter precincts. As the election nears closer, Stanton told board members they should work to get the precincts in their beats up to par and to make sure there is air or heat in the facilities for the workers.
