By RANDALL ALLEN

Horizon Reporter

CELINA-Commissioners were provided with an update on progress made towards a new jail and several budget amendments were passed during the first county meeting of 2025 last week.

Clay County Mayor Dale Reagan spoke about the next steps concerning the jail project, which has been in the works for over a decade since the first official action was taken in the summer of 2012.

A wheel tax to be used to pay back a loan for a new jail and to fund future operations was also levied by commissioners in January of 2020, before it began being collected three months later.

“I know that the clerk passed out the latest calculations of the wheel tax information,” Reagan said at the meeting.  “About the jail, since April 2020 both of them have generated $1,799,647.27.

“I got ahold of the surveyor last week and he told me he was going to get started on it this week, so with the way the weather is, I’m not sure.”

Reagan’s comment referenced preparations being made for a new site for the jail adjacent to the Clay County Government Complex here inside the city limits, as opposed to the previously-chosen site between Dura Plastics and Industrial Park Lane at 3670 Gainesboro Highway outside of town.

“It should be all pretty visible with everything they are going to do,” Reagan said of the pending survey work.  “Putting boundaries out, and they have to do all the utilities and stuff.”

The next phase will come with the architect of the project, as Reagan explained.

“They should be here this week, and hopefully we can get that passed on to Casey at Cope (Architecture), then they will take and start looking at the design that them and the sheriff has been working on,” Reagan said.  “The footprint and everything, and hopefully we can get this moving in the right direction.”

The option of building the new jail near the government complex was introduced at the July 2024 commission meeting, when downsizing the scale of the project was also proposed.

Both topics were then discussed further at the September and November meetings of the legislative body.

In September, Reagan said he thought the jail being built at the new site would cost “around $10 to $11 million, something like that,” which is less than the bid received for construction at the prior location.

A bid to build the jail at the original Gainesboro Highway site came in at almost $19 million earlier in 2024 and was officially rejected by county commissioners in March of the same year.

Other business

In other business, several resolutions were passed at the January meeting.

Commissioner Jeff Gentry made a motion to approve the amended changes to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office policy and procedures.  Commissioner Parrish Wright seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Commissioner Bryan Coons made a motion to approve a resolution to approve the budget amendment for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for the general purpose school fund.  Gentry seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Commissioner Dorothy Forney made a motion to approve a resolution to approve a budget amendment for the Clay County Senior Citizens Center, Clay County Drug Coalition, and Clay County Sheriff’s Office.  Gentry seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Commissioner Winton Young made a motion to approve a resolution to approve the appointment and reappointment of the Joint Industrial Development Board of Celina and Clay County Tennessee.  Forney seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Gentry made a motion to approve transferring surplus property from the Clay County Sheriff’s Department to the Clay County Volunteer Rescue Squad.  Coons seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Coons also made a motion to approve the Clay County Debt management policy.  Gentry seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.