Although contracts concerning the building of a new jail have been awarded, some county residents continue to fight against the project.

They voiced their concerns during the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday. This time, they were joined by one supporter of building a new jail.

Chocowinity resident Helen Eckman came out in support of a new jail.

“I’m here to support the building of the new Beaufort County jail. I understand the facility will cost approximately $20 million and will include a Beaufort County law-enforcement center,” she said. “The present jail and sheriff’s office (building) are inadequate and in very poor condition. Last year, a catastrophic incident occurred at the jail that cost the citizens over $700,000. If the electrical incident was a little worse, a fire could have possibly started that could have resulted in the loss of inmate and/or guard lives. If another catastrophic incident occurs, are we going to be as lucky?”

Eckman said the jail and building housing the sheriff’s office are unsafe.

“It is time to move forward and replace our obsolete jail and sheriff’s office. Further more, I’d just like to state I don’t think we need a Cadillac jail, a Chevy will do. … Our current jail, I feel, will continue to nickel and dime us to death, and sooner or later, a new jail will be built. Every year it is delayed, the cost to build it will increase,” Eckman said.

Donna Lay chastised the four board members who support building a new jail for not allowing county residents to vote on whether the county should spend the money needed to build a new jail. Lay told the board she represented about 600 people “that I know of personally.”

“We, the taxpaying citizens of Beaufort County, have a right and an obligation to vote on project that will cost us between $25 (million) and $30 million. Four of you have effectively denied us that constitutional right,” Lay said.

Lay told commissioners Jerry Langley (chairman), Ed Booth, Robert Belcher and Al Klemm the reason they oppose a referendum on building a new jail is because they know county voters would not authorize spending money on building a new jail.

Other speakers opposed to building a new jail said it is not needed because the existing jail, perhaps with some renovations and upgrades, is adequate when it comes to housing inmates. They have said that county taxpayers cannot afford the increase in taxes it would take to pay for a new jail.

For additional coverage of the board’s meeting, see future editions of the Washington Daily News.