Beaufort County residents continue to weigh in on where to build a new county jail or if there is a need for a new jail.

Jackie Van Essendelft made her views known during the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting last week.

“The jail is certainly not my specialty, and I don’t have a dog in the fight at all. … I’m just thinking about building — now, we might need a new jail, but I’m not going to argue that — but where are we going to build it? It worries me if we build it out of the city, that the next thing is a new courthouse. The next thing, oh well, probably the sheriff’s (office) will want to be close because that needs a new building anyway,” Van Essendelft said. “Then the lawyers will be setting up their little offices. I just feel that if you move the jail out of town, it will take the heart out of the city, and it will be a decline of our city’s economy.”

Building a new jail away from the city would not be a wise thing to do, she told the board.

“I hate to consider the jail as being the heart of the city, but administration of justice is the heart of government. So, there is a connection. I think that’s in our founding documents that the purposed of government is to administer justice. So, I just want you to think about that as you make this crucial decision,” Van Essendelft said during the public-comments part of the meeting.

During its Sept. 9 meeting, the board by a 4-3 vote — rejected a proposal to allow county voters to decide whether the county should pay for building a new jail.

During the board’s Sept. 9 meeting, Commissioner Gary Brinn proposed that the county seek permission from the N.C. General Assembly to hold a referendum on the jail issue during the May 2014 primary elections. Brinn and fellow commissioners Stan Deatherage and Hood Richardson voted for the proposal, but board Chairman Jerry Langley and commissioners Al Klemm, Ed Booth and Robert Belcher voted against it.

In July, the board voted 4-3 to not locate the jail at the Beaufort County Industrial Park, which had previously been selected to house the new jail. Voting for the new site were board Chairman Jerry Langley and commissioners Al Klemm, Ed Booth and Robert Belcher. Voting against it were commissioners Hood Richardson, Stan Deatherage and Gary Brinn.

Earlier this year during a board retreat, the board voted to locate the jail at the Beaufort County Industrial Park, which is on the north side of the Pamlico-Tar River. The Chocowinity site is south of the river.

Richardson, Brinn and Deatherage contend there is no need for a new jail and that other options related to the jail have not been fully explored or explored at all.