BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE — Big Sandy Regional Detention Center will temporarily expand its search for female correctional officers to Floyd County after administrators said the jail has not received “hirable” applicants from Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin or Martin counties.
The jail authority voted 4–3 at its Dec. 18 meeting to approve emergency hiring of female officers from Floyd County for a period of three months, contingent on there being no hirable applicants from the four counties that make up the authority.
“We just aren’t finding females in our four counties,” Administrator Byron Hansford said.
Board member Billy Patrick noted that a couple of women from Martin County had applied to the facility.
“They sent some over here that I’m not going to hire,” Hansford said. “They sent one over here the other day that has been in jail 13 times.”
Board chairman Davey Williams suggested the board authorize Hansford’s request, while board member Steve Rose made the motion.
“That’s if he can’t get females from our four counties,” Rose said. “Our counties are first. It’s a resource that we can go to when we have no applications. We’re not taking jobs away from anybody because they won’t come and take them.”
Rose, Williams, Ralph Slone and Billy Caudill voted in favor of the motion. Patrick, Bradford Preece and Roger Lee Jordan voted against it.
Hansford later clarified his earlier remarks regarding the applicant that he referenced during the discussion.
“Let me clear one thing up,” Hansford said. “When I said they sent the one over here with 13, it wasn’t a judge that sent them over; it was a board member, and the girl told him that she had been in jail here once for something minor. He didn’t know about the others.”
An applicant must be 21 years of age or older. Benefits include health insurance, vacation, sick and personal time accrual, and a yearly salary of $33,032 for new officers. To apply, go to bsrdc.com or stop by the facility at 904 3rd Street, Paintsville, to complete an application.
In other business, Hansford reported the jail’s average inmate population was 241 in November and had dropped to 225 as of Dec. 18. He also reported rising overtime costs, with 249.35 overtime hours logged for the Nov. 26 payroll and 320.99 hours for the Dec. 10 payroll.
“We have had several in the hospital,” he said. “We’ve got one in there right now.”
Housing revenue billed in November totaled $97,467 for the state, $47,950 for Johnson County, $33,549 for Lawrence County, $37,948 for Magoffin County and $26,448 for Martin County.
Hansford said delinquent booking fees accumulated over the past 15 years now total $4.1 million.
“Probably a lot of people are dead who owe us money, but there are still people out there who owe us money, and some of those quite a bit,” he said. “Collecting that money is not easy. Usually, we get some of it when they come back in here.”
Hansford recommended accepting partial payments on old debts through June 30, 2025. The authority voted to allow him to settle delinquent booking fees for 15% of the balance if paid within 60 days.
Treasurer Pam Burgess said the authority remains under significant financial strain, particularly due to liability and workers’ compensation insurance premiums.
“I have to hold whatever we have in reserve to make payroll next time,” Burgess said. “And that’s going to have all that overtime on it.”
She said the authority currently has about $100,000 in its bank account.
“I have $68,000 in bills to pay, probably a $70,000 to $80,000 payroll next week and one two weeks later,” Burgess said. “We’re still in the same bind that we were in.”
Burgess said the jail’s deficit stands at more than $460,000, an improvement from $555,000 earlier this year.
“When we have our final payroll in December, then we’ll see what the negative total is going to be,” she said, adding that paying the outstanding insurance premiums would push the deficit “way over, probably $800,000.”
“We owe [Kentucky Association of Counties] $350,000 total,” Burgess said. “It would take nine months at our current rate to pay the bill that we owe now.”
Hansford also reviewed the facility’s latest inspection report from the Kentucky Department of Corrections, which found the jail remains over its rated capacity and needs updates to its policy and procedures manual.