POPLARVILLE — Last Tuesday, Poplarville aldermen continued discussing the inter-local agreement with Pearl River County, and the cost of housing city prisoners at the Pearl River County jail facility at Millard. The board had been waiting for an opinion on the prisoner housing issue from the Mississippi Attorney General’s office before proceeding with their approval of the agreement.

Mayor Billy Spiers said the city has received several pertinent opinions from the Mississippi Attorney General’s office. Spiers read in part, “It is the opinion of this office that a city has to pay a county to house city prisoners.”

“It is our obligation to do this,” Spiers said.

One point the city questions concerns the $30 per prisoner amount it is being asked to pay for housing its prisoners at the county facility, particularly when compared to the $20 which the state of Mississippi pays to the county for housing of state prisoners.

Spiers said he hoped to have further talks about the matter with the board of supervisor’s president, District 4 supervisor Patrick Lee who Spiers said was not happy about comments from aldermen on the issue, as recently reported in local newspapers.

The question then arose about what would happen were the county to refuse to accept prisoners from the city. Alderman Bill Winborn understood that the county had to accept a prisoner the first time they were brought to the jail by city authorities.

Spiers said that was not the case.

“Wrong answer,” Spiers said to Winborn. “They do not have to accept a prisoner at all. Period. Then what are we going to do? Where’re we going to put ’em?”

“Well then, we’ll do away with the police force and let the county take care of it,” Winborn said.

The mayor said there is already money budgeted in the city’s budget for prisoner housing and he didn’t think that needed to be taken out of the budget.

Winborn persisted.

“Why am I paying county taxes when they can’t work with what they get already?”

Spiers said that was a good argument and that he understood where Winborn was coming from but the facility was a county jail and the city’s prisoners are being put there.

When asked by the Poplarville Democrat why the city was being charged $30 dollars while the state only paid $20. Spiers said he “really didn’t know.”

Alderwoman Shirley Wiltshire said she was going to vote ‘no’ on approving the agreement and she and Winborn said they had questions for the supervisor’s board president.

“He’s the one who wants us to pay him. He needs to come and explain why,” she said

Winborn then brought up the 911 funds that everybody in the county pays, including the cities, as another source where the county was getting money from city residents.

Spiers said the 911 money went for equipment only and not salaries.

“I’m paying for the equipment. I’m helping pay for the employees (through my taxes),” Winborn said. “My God, why do we have to pay more?

“There again, you’re double billing the city for (the) county that’s already got money from us to run these offices,” he said.

Alderman Johnny Sherman said paying to house the city’s prisoners “is the right thing to do.”

“Every municipality in the state of Mississippi that doesn’t have a jail pays … to house such prisoners and has to have an agreement or signed contract in order to do that,” Sherman said. “And, if you don’t have it (an agreement), they don’t have to accept our prisoners when we take them down there. By law they’re not allowed to do that, unless you have a contract.”

Winborn said, “If the law says we’ve got to do it, we’ve got to do this. But, there again, I want it understood that part of my taxes are helping fund this.”

Spiers reminded the board that the county has helped the city a lot over the years, from assisting with paving of city streets to helping to build the new pavilion at the city park. “They didn’t have to help us with that but they did. The county has helped us a lot.”

Winborn said the way the proposed contract is written, it is unacceptable.

“Now, if they’ll get us one that is acceptable, and you’re telling me that it’s got to be done because that is the law, I’ll go along with it. But, the way it is written right now — no.”

Spiers said these are some of the details that need to be worked out with the city’s attorney, Martin Smith, then draft an amended agreement and get with the supervisor’s attorney, Joe Montgomery, to work on the final agreement.

Alderman Byron Wells briefly mentioned what would be necessary at a minimum if the city had to build, staff, and maintain a jail when compared to the approximate $7,000 the city might pay per year to the county for housing its prisoners at the county’s facility.

“It’s going to cost you a ton of money to run it, and the employees,” Wells said.

Winborn said he would make the motion for the city’s attorney, Martin Smith, to draw up a new agreement different from the current contract, in consultation with the board of supervisor’s attorney Joe Montgomery. Wells seconded the motion.

In other matters, the board:

— Discussed several code enforcement matters with Guy Ray Holston such as a property owner with several junk cars, continuing to pick up illegally placed signs around town, particularly event signs that are out of date, and certain properties that are not being maintained and are overgrown eyesores, mentioning one property that will be turned over for legal action.

— Police Chief Charles Fazende recommended Rachel Ann Windom as part-time police department secretary. Wells made the motion to accept the chief’s recommendation; Winborn seconded it.

— Hired Kyle McCardle and Dillon Beech as part-time firefighters.

— Approved Justin Miller and Jonathan Head to attend the Mississippi Technical Rescue Regional Response Team Exercise in McComb, Aug. 24. Their wages are reimbursed by the state.

— Noted that Wiltshire has graduated from a Small Town Conference and graduation will be In Meridian Nov. 15-16. She wanted board approval to attend the graduation. The board approved and moved to include the cost of her graduation plaque.

— Went into executive session on personnel matters.