Sheriff McCoy Says He Might Be Forced to Discontinue Law Enforcement Function

This is the second part of our coverage of the October 20^th Pocahontas County Commission meeting. In part one we described the new drug screening program authorized for Day Report, and the suggestion of a possible future county ordinance to deal with privacy issues.

Also at the meeting, there were continuing discussions regarding finding space for the Sheriff’s Department to relocate to from the old jail building. That building has been found to have dangerous levels of mold and lead in its air. Sheriff McCoy said he has been getting his employees out of that building but cannot continue to function without more space. He then dropped a startling possibility, saying that if this situation continues for much longer, he will be forced to suspend the law enforcement function of the Sheriff’s Office. McCoy added that the law enforcement function by a sheriff’s department is an optional function under state law.

McCoy went on to explain that his deputies are now forced to hold prisoners in a van while waiting for them to be transferred to a regional jail. He said this is unsafe and necessitates using a deputy to guard the van, which causes shortages of deputies performing enforcement or other duties. The Sheriff added that not being able to use the jail building also means that there are insufficient secure locations to secure evidence. He said they just cannot continue full operations like this much longer. He said other functions would still continue. (Those would include duties such as warrant and summons service, tax collections, and courthouse security.)

The commissioners have been working with Cindy Wilfong of the County Health Department to find an alternative location for that office to move to so the current Health Department spaces in the current courthouse basement can be used by the Sheriff. The Health Department and the commissioners, have been looking at and considering several buildings near the courthouse. The commissioners now consider finding a place for the Sheriff to move his operations into is now their major priority.

Additionally, the commissioners discussed the storage tanks at the East Fork Industrial Park, which had been auctioned off and bought by Buster Varner about 15 years ago. Varner, however, has never moved nor taken possession of them. Varner told one of the commissioners that the fiberglass ones are filled with some sort of solidified liquid, so he cannot use them and is unable to move them, but he is still interested in the steel tanks. The commissioners deferred any action on this at this time, but will discuss this further with Varner.

They also discussed but took no action on a proposal to pull $80,000 annually from the Hotel Occupancy Tax and use it to pay the operational expenses and future equipment replacement for the County Ambulance Service

In a final action, the commissioners approved invoices and then adjourned the meeting.