Chatham County commissioners on Friday approved spending about $177,000 a year to pay for three more deputies to transport federal inmates.
Most of the cost of the deputies will be covered by federal reimbursements as part of a contract to house U.S. Marshals Service inmates.
Chatham will be paid $70 a day per inmate under the contract in addition to the reimbursements.
“They will make us money,” County Manager Russ Abolt said.
Sheriff Al St Lawrence said the deal to house up to 150 inmates has the potential to raise about $3.8 million a year.
The first four inmates arrived Tuesday, St Lawrence said.
Commissioners also removed from the agenda the sheriff’s request to buy 34 televisions for the expanded jail using $18,000 in sales tax funds.
“When I saw this on the agenda, it raised a red flag,” said Chairman Al Scott, during the commission’s pre-meeting.
St Lawrence said the request was mistakenly put on the agenda by the person who handles equipment purchases for the project.
The televisions, which are used as a management tool, will be paid for by the inmates’ trust fund, as they have always been, St Lawrence said.
The trust is funded by fees inmates pay for phone use and commissary purchases.
“They’ll get (TV) anyway,” St Lawrence said. “You’ve got to have privileges to take away from them.”
In other news, commissioners:
• Approved a $13,175 timing system for the aquatic center. The center’s manager, Misty Selph, said the current system is malfunctioning and the new equipment is needed to continue attracting swim meets and tournaments to the facility.
Selph said the events bring income to the center — teams are charged $4,000-$5,000 to use the facility — as well as outside economic benefits to the county by bringing visitors here.
• Approved spending about $103,000 for jail purchases that included floor burnishers, an edge scrubber, wireless access points, plumbing valves and video visitation units.
• Held a first reading of an amendment to the Chatham County Criminal Justice Information Board ordinance to add members, including a Savannah alderman, and allow only members of the judicial community to remain as voting members.
The change is part of a plan to help Chatham and Savannah integrate the computer systems used in the court system to improve the sharing of information, said Superior Court Clerk Dan Massey.
“When I took office, the courts were fragmented,” Massey said. “They were not talking to one another.”
Massey said Savannah has agreed to cover half the cost of a new court management system, a contribution expected be about
$1 million.