Sheriff Darin Layman reported on the renegotiation of the Crawford County Jail’s federal contract with the U.S. Marshals Service for federal inmate housing.

Currently, the contract says that the Crawford County Jail will provide federal inmate housing at $75 a day and $25 per guard an hour.

Using a company called JailGeek to renegotiate the contract, they were left with two options. Either the jail can receive $90.10 a day with a $30-per-hour guard rate for 36 months, or $92.10 per inmate per day for 48 months. Layman is leaning more towards the 48-month contract.

“We tried to shoot for $95, but they hit us at $92, which I’m completely comfortable with, but I won’t make any decisions without discussing it with my crew first,” Layman said.

If they sign the new contract, it would take effect on Nov. 1, which Layman explained is good timing for them.

JailGeek doesn’t get an hourly or flat rate. Layman said that their payment is the difference between the starting and ending contracts for 90 days, so they would receive the difference between the $75 and approximately $90 rate change.

“They would get November (and) December of this year, so it would be no negative effect on the budget, and then they would get January of next year, which we don’t really pay any bills of, you know, within that month anyway. So in essence, we’re not looking at any type of a loss,” Layman said. “The timing is just immaculate.”

County Clerk Kim Gibbs updated the commissioners on the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding what congressional maps will be used for the Nov. 3 election.

“Those of you that don’t know, the Supreme Court did rule we are using the 2022 congressional map, so we’re moving ahead,” Gibbs said. “So that being said, you’re not going to vote on the same people that you voted on in the primary.”

She also explained a program that she has been looking at called TextMyGov.

The outcome is similar to texting programs that schools use to inform parents when school is canceled due to weather or other important information.

She said residents can sign up for free to receive county information such as courthouse closure dates or to receive alerts from Emergency Management Director Loren Wilson in case of emergencies.

“You can set up groups in it, like I would use it for my poll workers, so I could send out messages to my poll workers, like when their poll worker training is, things like that,” Gibbs said. “I thought it would be a good idea for, just to get the word out because people don’t look at our website. So this is one more way that we can get the message out.”

Since there isn’t a limit to the number of groups they can make, District 1 Associate Commissioner Mark Pfeiffer said that it would be useful for the road districts, sheriff’s office and courthouse as well. Gibbs added that it would be great to announce bridge maintenance or closures if there is another flood.

If the commissioners approve the program, it comes with an annual fee of $7,500, and an additional setup fee of $3,750 is included in the initial payment. Since multiple county entities could benefit from the program, Pfeiffer asked that, if they approved its use, the costs could be allocated among different budgets.

District 2 Associate Commissioner Jared Boast agreed with its usefulness because they have a difficult time reaching and informing residents on Facebook.

“What I like about it is this right here: mass notification. Keep residents ahead of tax deadlines, election dates, all disclosures…,” Boast said.

Gibbs said she would keep looking into the program, and the commissioners tabled the discussion.

Pfeiffer announced a few updates regarding District 1 low water crossing projects.

The Arlie Barr low water crossing project is finished, but the Sig Bass Road project had a couple of setbacks; however, it should be completed soon. The Whilhite Road low water crossing project started on Oct. 5, and the Keysville Road box culvert rehab project will start on Oct. 7.

Crawford County Library District Director Amy England presented the commissioners with a packet from the library board’s last meeting and a board report.

“We are starting on budgeting things, so we’re looking at salaries and all of that kind of information, snow removal bids, health insurance, all the fun things that you guys also do here,” England said. “We have not yet cashed in any of our CDs for our current project, so you’ll see our checking account balance is what is decreasing at this point.”

The Steelville branch had its guttering repaired after some came loose, and they had ventilation fans installed in the bathrooms at the Cuba branch.

“I think there is still a little confusion about our salaries,” England said. “The line item for payroll and salaries in 2020 was $250,000. In 2025, that line item was $468,000. Between that time, we added healthcare benefits in for full-time staff.”

In the future, she said she will try to separate some of those things in the budget, like salaries and healthcare costs.