By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County Fiscal Court was made aware of the need for a new roof on the detention center during their regular meeting last Monday, July 13. Carter County Jailer R.W. Boggs spoke to the court and stressed that the need for a new roof was immediate. Boggs provided the court with information concerning the type of repair necessary and a projected cost, but the figures supplied were general and not an actual bid for repairs.
Boggs said his information was from December of 2025, and the projected cost was $173,000. “Now they’re up to $230,000,” Boggs told the court. “They said materials have went up 37 percent. When I first mentioned it back in December, I about choked on $173,00.”
Now, he told the court, he wished he had locked in that price.
“The main thing is, it’s raining inside the jail,” Boggs said. “And we have several really bad spots.”
Boggs explained that most things to do with the jail have a “shelf life” of about 20 years.
“Right now, we’re working on year 24,” he said. “The roof is four years past its time, and we are going to have to replace it.”
Boggs said that water from the leaking roof is running down the jail walls in places and potentially damaging other things. Boggs said the water hasn’t “helped” the 20-year-old system that controls the doors and other things at the jail.
“That (the controls) is another thing we need to address as early as possible,” Boggs told the court. “We need to get an updated bid on that, but we have a battery backup that handles control, which is every door for every room in the Jail. Without it, everyone is stuck and locked in if the electric goes out.”
Boggs said he had planned to get an updated bid soon on the control and bring it before the court. But, he stressed, the immediate need was the roof. The fiscal court voted to advertise the roof replacement and to open it up for bids.
In other business, Carter County Judge Executive Brandon Burton told the court that he would like to have a work session in the near future and examine the current county ordinances. Burton said that there might be a need to revise certain ordinances, such as the ordinance concerning animal control.
“It’s getting out of hand,” Burton told the court. “I am getting a lot of complaints, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can look at that ordinance.”
The fiscal court also voted to approve the LARP (Local Assistance Road Program) Agreement, and to approve Resolution 452. The court held the second reading of ordinances number 867 and 868. The court also voted to accept Autmn Lane into the county road maintenance schedule, pending a center lane survey.
The fiscal court also discussed taking bids to demolish the old jail adjacent to the courthouse.
“It is falling in anyway,” Judge Executive Burton told the court. “And it’s time to get something done.”
Burton cited the need for more space, as well as the old building having become a danger and compromising the surrounding structures.
“We are getting a big sinkhole in the back parking lot,” Burton said. “And the building is just too far gone.”
The fiscal court voted unanimously to begin the bid process for demolition of the structure.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
