The January Christian County Board Meeting was held on Tuesday evening. Mike Specha, Bev Graham, Dave Puccetti were sworn in to replace Clark Pearce, Mike McClure, and a resigning Donna Hibbits. The main topic of the board meeting concerned the Christian County Jail. 

At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the board had discussed and approved putting in the ballot a vote on possibly raising taxes in the county to pay for a much-needed jail overhaul. Cecil Polley, Jail Administrator, says that remodeling or building a new jail is way overdue after an inspection came back that showed there were some serious issues. Polley says that some of the conditions of the jail could cause lawsuits in the future.

Polley says that they’ve already gotten help with the jail doors from the Warren Buffet foundation as the doors cost $45,000. While many people may wonder why people in jail need good conditions to live, Polley says it’s all about civil rights.

The building was built in 1970 to house 15 people, but at times there are 80 people in a small area with people that are locked down almost 24 hours a day. The jail houses more than just prisoners, it also has the Sheriff’s Office and other admin that work there. The discussion continued on the jail and State’s Attorney Mike Havera echoed a lot of the sentiments from Cecil Polley.

Sheriff Bruce Kettelkamp agreed.

This is set to be on the ballot in April. It does not mean that the decision has been made already to remodel the jail. No action was taken on this. Personnel Policy meetings were moved to the second Monday of the month.