Politics & Government

Confiscated Drug Funds to Pay for Jail Software

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners approved the contract with CTS America, worth about $677,500, on Tuesday.

The new Douglas County jail is set to receive a software package for roughly $677,500 from Consolidated Technology Solutions America

The contract was approved at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting. It is being completely funded by money the sheriff’s office obtained through drug busts, said Commissioner Henry Mitchell III.

“The citizens pay nothing on that,” he said after the meeting. “That’s strictly the sheriff’s office and their funds that they’ve collected through drug funds.”

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Also at the meeting, $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was approved for the county to purchase foreclosed homes, fix them up and reintroduce them into the market.

Mitchell said this is a great program for tax revenues for the county because “if nobody owns (the homes), there are no tax dollars.”

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There are no profits involved because once the county sells the houses, it uses the money to purchase more foreclosed homes, Amy Brumelow, Douglas County’s planning and zoning director, told the board. 

“Once each of those homes sells, we receive program income, and then that money is then used to purchase, rehab and resale additional homes,” she said.

The $1.6 million is the third round of funding the county has received from HUD. 

Brumelow said the county has nine homes in the Dorsett Shoals Road-Kings Highway area targeted for this round. She called the area “one of our highest-risk areas for foreclosure.”

Application requirements for buying one of the homes include at least a 620 credit score, ability to qualify for the mortgage and HUD counseling, Brumelow said. For every 10 people who apply for HUD housing, one qualifies, she added.

Commissioner Mike Mulcare was not in attendance Tuesday because he was at another county function, Mitchell said.

During his absence, a one-year contract extension with Republic Services for the county’s solid waste was approved. The price of the contract was not raised with the extension.

“Right now,” Mitchell said, “we feel that we need to move forward with that contract because of the pricing—nothing changed.”

Mitchell said the contract, which costs the county $25.90 for each ton of waste removed, allows for adjustments for circumstances such as rising gas prices.

“They may come back and say: ‘Hey, guys, I can’t afford to do it. It’s costing me money to pick up your waste,’ ” he said.

Further, commissioners voted to begin soliciting bids to borrow money for general expenditures since taxes aren’t collected until the end of the year.

“At the end of the year, that’s when we get the taxes,” Mitchell said, “but you need money to operate throughout the other eight months of the year.”

Also Tuesday, a clarification was made on the way the taxes on the salaries of the county’s boards are paid to the Internal Revenue Service.

This was following a 2010 audit by the IRS, Commissioner Ann Jones Guider said after the meeting.

“They determined that an appointed board has to be considered an employee for their purposes,” she said. “They’re clamping down on all governments.”

Also at the meeting, Georgia Power Company was given permission to install below-ground electrical wiring at the campus that will house the new jail. 

“They encircle that whole complex,” Guider said.

At the meeting, Bob Camp, Nick Byers, Walter Hudson, Gary Miller and James Wren were reappointed as members of the Development Authority of Douglas County.  

Also, Commission Chairman Tom Worthan announced that his next Chat with the Chairman meeting is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at the fire station in Winston at 2900 Conners Road. He also said the Douglas County Courthouse will be open Monday for President’s Day.

Tuesday’s attendance was much larger than normal, as students from Douglas County’s four high schools were at the meeting. They were there because the board declared this week as Career and Technical Education Week. 

Commissioner Kelly Robinson addressed the students near the end of the meeting. He detailed a recent First Amendment debate he attended and expressed his appreciation for the participating students’ knowledge.

“At some point,” he told the roughly 75 students, “you will be sitting here (as a commissioner), so it’s important that you take for granted where you are now.”

The character word of the month for February is loyalty, the board announced. In recognition of that, Lindsay Purcell, a student at , gave a speech on the word.

“Loyalty between people is based on respect, love and trust. People aren’t just loyal to their leaders, though; we’re loyal to our friends, family and peers. … To be truly loyal, it shouldn’t matter what is right or what is wrong. All that matters is who your lives tie with."


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