County Commissioners Continue Jail Issue

Delaware County Commissioners continued their discussion of the county jail issue at this week's regular meeting, but came to no conclusions.
Bruce Poindexter, District #1 Commissioner, said he had attended a meeting of the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City last week and said "more than half of the state's 77 counties have a jail capacity problem."
He said the rule of thumb is three beds per 1,000 population, and assuming the county has 40,000 people, would mean a jail with 120 beds or twice the current capacity in Jay.
Discussion centered around a new jail building separate and apart from the current courthouse jail, with up to 200 beds for future growth. A bond issue may be the way to pay for it, commissioners said. Other alternatives would be a sales tax increase or property tax increase.
In other action, commissioners approved a bid for tires for the Sheriff's office from Auto Lube Express and noted the donation of $10,000 from the Cherokee Nation to Emergency Management to purchase a quick response vehicle.