GRAYSON —
The Carter County Fiscal Court narrowly approved a plan to proceed with a proposed regional jail, despite a vocal standing-room-only crowd of county residents and jailers in opposition to the idea.
Magistrate Brad Brammell made a motion to “kill” two regional jail resolutions tabled at a June meeting, but withdrew his motion after Magistrate Clifford “Sodbuster” Roe questioned the action and indicated the jail proposal would be discussed later in the meeting. The audience, filled with people holding red, stop-sign shaped cards with the phrase “I support Carter County STOP regional jail,” applauded Brammell’s motion and made jokes at Roe’s expense.
County resident Mignon Colley made an open-records request for any and all documents and digital records of regional jail work and bills for consultant Joey Stanton, as well as time sheets, mileage and the nature of work performed by Stanton while not on the grounds of the county courthouse. Colley’s request caused Roe to reprimand Magistrate Brandon Burton, who Roe alleged had provided Colley with information prior to the meeting and before it became public record. Burton denied Roe’s claims and Colley pointed out her typed request had been prepared before the meeting began less than 11 minutes earlier. During an executive session by the fiscal court, Colley said she had only looked at some of the documents on the table in front of Burton before the meeting.
Following a roughly 20-minute closed-door session to discuss litigation between Cabell-Huntington Hospital and the fiscal court, Brammell again made a motion to “scoff, do away with, kill” two resolutions about the regional jail. Audience members chastised Judge-Executive Charles Wallace for calling the motion to a vote without discussion by the fiscal court. Wallace earned an extra growl of disapproval from the crowd when he declared “We’ve had enough” discussion.
The motion was denied by a 3-2 vote, with magistrates Roe, Ronnie Greenhill and Clarence “Sonny” Fankell voting against the motion.
Roe immediately followed with a pair of motions to bring the tabled regional jail resolutions back to active status, and to have a special meeting at 10 a.m. July 25 for a second reading of each. The plan to pursue the regional jail resolution, and another to create a regional jail authority, were approved 3-2 with Brammell and Burton against the measure.
Brammell also pointed out he will be out of town during the July 25 special meeting, and asked for the group’s reconsideration of the date, although the plea went without response. Wallace later asked Brammell if he was using his planned absence next week to “again” block a vote by the fiscal court. During the exchange, Roe remarked those who are present at the meeting would be able to vote, causing an outcry from the audience, which included calling names such as “puppet man.”
“Oh, we got a lot of smart people,” Roe said in response to the name-calling.
“Yes. We do,” and “You’re not one of them” were among the audience’s responses to Roe.
In other business, the fiscal court unanimously approved quarterly reports as presented by Sheriff Casey Brammell and County Clerk Mike Johnston, approved bids for transportation projects and authorized the sale of outdated voting machines. The fiscal court also approved a request for the Grayson Dive Team to trade one boat for one more suited to rescue and recovery efforts such as the recent drowning at Grayson Lake.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
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