July 7, 2009 Comments by James Bell to Douglas County Board of Commissioners

1. First of all, I support holding a public vote on Sunday Alcohol sales by the drink. Once and for all, we as a community can determine what we will socially tolerate. The voters will have to determine if revenue and ending county/city turf battles are worth the risk of more drunk drivers on our streets.

However, I am opposed to holding this alcohol vote in a September Special Election. The cost of a special election is over $40,000. If you table this vote today you will have an opportunity to bring the issue up later and hold the vote on the Nov. general ballot, saving over $40,000 in tax dollars. It was said yesterday in the work session that that the cost of the election can be recouped by fees. That’s only if the issue passes. If it fails, you have squandered another $40,000 of taxpayer’s money. That’s quite a gamble! Please do the right thing and table this vote and place it on the Nov. ballot.

2. SPLOST: If this board of commissioners had spent as much time seeking a solution to reducing the inmate population as it has trying to sales the idea of spending more than $150 million on a new jail we would not be addressing this issue today. We must ask… why are we still housing state inmates? Why do the court rooms above us sit empty and the lights turned off day after day when we have hundreds of inmate awaiting hearings or trials? We have inmate serving more time awaiting a court date than they would receive on the offence they are locked up for.

We hear about housing inmates in other counties at a cost but we never hear about the 100 state inmates the state pays us to house. The inmate population can be controlled. If our only goal and mission is to build a new prison we will never find a cost effective solutions.

Over the past 4 years we have heard every creative reason why we should bulldozer our investment and build a new prison. We have heard everything from toxic mold to antiquated locks, to inmates having to use the rest room in front of each other.

Raising taxes in a recession will further depress the economy. Retailers will suffer and consumers will have less cash to spend.  

The voters twice have rejected this project. Two years ago Chairman Worthan was asked at a SPLOST information meeting, if the jail was such a priority why not have the jail on the ballot as a single issue. Mr. Worthan stated it’s because the jail will not pass on its own merit. We were told YMCA’s and horse and dog parks were not wish lists but a needs list.

I’ve got a solution to the jail population… the county can sue the state or demand they move state prisoners to other counties that have available jail space. Surely, the Dept. of Correction would not want to jeopardize the safety of the officers and would remove the state prisoners.

Mr. Chairman, this issue has divided our county. I respectfully ask this board to postpone another attempt to increase taxes until we can look at other less costly solutions to the issues at hand.

Thank you,

James Bell