McNamee says he will soon be taking jail plans to supervisors

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

SALEM ? City council members were briefed the county sheriff and county attorney, fielded a complaint, received updates on several projects and approved repairs to the city?s water system during their regular meeting Tuesday evening.

It was one of those meetings ? nothing controversial and several business items swept off the docket ? that council members appreciate.

Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee and County Attorney Darin Stater briefed the council on the state of law enforcement in the county.

McNamee, who lives near Salem, said the community is ?special? to him, is about to take his plans for a county jail expansion to the county supervisors.

?I?m putting together a plan to build extra cells onto the back of the sheriff?s office,? he said, ?at one-third of the cost of the 2006 project.?

McNamee was referring to a proposal for a new county law enforcement facility that included a jail and was defeated in a bond election.

An ever-expanding jail population is the driver behind McNamee?s plan. The current county jail can house eight prisoners and Tuesday?s count was 26. That means 18 prisoners, costing $40 a day plus transportation expenses, will be jailed elsewhere.

?We spent $16,000 last month housing inmates in other counties and that does not include transportation,? he explained. ?We have a three-year-old car just used to transport prisoners and it has 85,000 miles on it.?

Most of the Henry County prisoners are taken to the Louisa County Jail near Wapello, but inmates have been housed in other neighboring counties as well, the sheriff said.

From Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2014, the county has spent over $1.2 million for beds in other county jails, he said. ?Most of that has been in the last several years and is growing at the rate of $150,000-$200,000 a year,? he noted.

The average daily jail population in 2014 was 22.25 inmates per day, McNamee said.

According to his statistics, the sheriff?s office received 214 calls from Salem during 2014. There were 97 fire/rescue calls and the sheriff?s office spent 418 hours patrolling Salem.

In a final note, McNamee reported that his office has handled over 100 drug cases since he took office on Jan. 1, 2014. ?Drug enforcement is having a high reward because burglaries and thefts are down.?

County Attorney Stater noted that he completed his ninth office budget this spring that includes $511,000 in expenditures. ?I have been below the budget ($521,000) I inherited each year,? he told the council.

The county official praised the working relationship between the various law enforcement entities in the county. ?The communication and working relationship between law enforcement is the best it?s ever been.?

He said with communication, that relationship and relationship with county residents will continue to be solid. ?I just urge communication because that prevents little problems from becoming big problems.?

Salem resident Dillon Haynes who appeared at last month?s council meeting and promised to be back this month, kept his promise.

Haynes complained about a nuisance notice he received from the city. ?The council meeting was the first week of April, but I didn?t receive the ordinance until April 24. Why did it take so long?? he began.

He also said the ordinance was for cleaning up his yard but was later told it was for junk vehicles. ?I have two vehicles that are licensed and used every day to drive to work. I should not have been on the list.?

Mayor Dan Patterson said the delay in giving notice ?was just the way it worked out.? He added that Haynes received a letter because residents had filed a complaint against Haynes.

Council members agreed to a $6,650 parts and labor expenditure for repairs to the city?s sewage system. The repairs were denoted following an inspection by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Mississippi Valley Pump Co. will do the reapirs.

?I think we should get it done, we have money in the sewer account,? said Councilman Chuck Kramer. ?I don?t want to get on the bad side of the DNR.

Salem Fire Chief Steve Nichting asked the council to consider purchasing a rescue truck. He said during last month?s meeting a new or used vehicle was needed because of the deteriorating condition of the current vehicle.

Council member wanted to know the cost of a used or new vehicle and Nichting said they range from $60,000 used to $120,000 new.

The council said finances are tight and a vehicle could not be purchased until the last payment is made on the fire truck which will be next month.

?You keep looking at trucks and we will keep trying to find money,? Kramer said. ?We just can?t go out and spend $75,000 if we don?t have the money.?

Council members also discussed the progress of painting city picnic tables and the bathrooms at the shelter house with city employee Dick Myers. Myers said he doesn?t have a key to the bathroom and he inspected the picnic tables ?and they look fine.?

Myers said he hasn?t found enough hours in the day to do the work.

?I think we have to jump it up the best we can,? Kramer said. ?We have to get it done because we have had citizen complaints.?

The council said it would review the matter at its July meeting.

In other agenda items, the council:

? Approved a permit for a garage at 205 W. Jackson St., and the tearing down of a former garage to be replaced by a new one at 107 E. Jackson St.

? Okayed a request from City Clerk Laci Schull to attend an IPERS training workshop July 7 in Mt. Pleasant.

Council members meet again in regular session Tuesday, July 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Center.