Improvements at the Marshall County Jail suddenly had to be expanded to include electrical upgrades. Earlier this year, the County Council appropriated $14,000 to add dropped ceilings in the jail lobby, in an effort to improve climate control, lower utility costs, and solve noise issues.
Sheriff Matt Hassel told council members this week that the work’s coming along nicely, but a problem has come up in the jail’s electrical room. “During a generator test, which we do every month, we blew out about five hard drives and found out that we have an electrical problem in our battery backup electrical room,” he said. “And the new batteries were over $5,000. We had to put a separate air conditioning unit in that room, which was $1,600. And the electricity that was redone was over $6,000.”
But Hassel says the Sheriff’s Department has realized some savings elsewhere in its budget, “Last October, we signed an agreement with Quality Correctional Care to sign up our inmates for Medicaid. We’ve been seeing some savings in our Prisoner Care, so we’d like to transfer $12,000 from Prisoner Care into Repair Buildings and Structures to help take care of those expenses of that electrical room.”
The Marshall County Council approved the transfer request unanimously.
