State to Beaufort County: Financing a new jail will not be considered until after the November election | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

So the people will decide whether a new jail will be built now by who they vote for in the election

    Four Beaufort County Commissioners and two staff people traveled to Raleigh Monday (8-18-14) to hear it straight from the staff of the Local Government Commission (LGC). What they heard was that the LGC will not approve financing for a new jail until after the new Board of Commissioners is installed in December.

    Gary Brinn, Al Klemm, Jerry Langley and Hood Richardson were accompanied by the County Manager and Assistant County Manager. Langley and Klemm, it was reported, presented the case for approving financing before December while Brinn and Richardson explained that the one-vote majority for building a new jail might likely change in the November election.

    Two current members, Stan Deatherage and Al Klemm will not be returning to the board. Deatherage has voted against funding a new jail now while Klemm has been the kingpin pushing the idea. Two of the four candidates running for three seats have signed a letter saying they will vote to scrap the project the first chance they get, while a third and fourth candidates have not signed the letter. Ed Booth, who is in the one-vote majority favoring a new jail, is running for reelection and of course has not signed it since he votes for it whenever it comes up. Thus, who gets elected in November will likely determine whether the project proceeds or is put on the shelf.

    The question remains now whether the Gang of Four will continue to spend fund balance for the design and planning of a facility that may never be built. That decision is yet to be made.

    Observers believe that the Gang of Four have been rushing the design and planning hoping to get the project past the point of no return before the new board takes over. That strategy was predicated on plans to use permanent financing to replenish the fund balance with permanent financing. Now that they have been told that they will not be able to obtain permanent financing before December the issue becomes whether the four will continue to burn money that may not be replaced for a project that may never happen. Of course, most people without a dog in the fight don't understand why they don't just let the new board decide all of these issues, based on how the people vote in the November election.

    There will be a press conference at 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning at which the commissioners and candidates opposed to building a new jail now will sign a letter stating what their position is. We should know then which ones will oppose a new jail and which ones will not. So check back for more on this continuing saga.