A purchase noted within the local county jail’s budget prompted Sheriff Jeremy McCoy to investigate the whereabouts of a manufactured home that was removed from Yazoo County’s inventory. He said he later discovered the trailer had been moved to private property under the guise that it was demolished and sold for scrap metal.
“I just want it to be transparent that I didn’t have nothing to do with this,” McCoy said, during Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
The discussion ignited when McCoy discovered that the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility’s budget included a line item of about $900 for the purchase of 14-inch tires.
“We have nothing that uses 14-inch tires,” McCoy said.
Supervisor Joseph Thomas Jr. said the issue had been discussed with McCoy before this week’s meeting.
“We had already talked about that before,” Thomas said.
“Well then, the demolition of the trailer…” McCoy added.
“That was what the tire rims were for,” Thomas replied. “We had to move the trailer.”
County Administrator Donna Kraft said she did move the journal entry of the $900 purchase from the county jail’s budget to the more appropriate line item under Buildings and Grounds.
Following Kraft’s explanation, Thomas referenced the county covering the utilities at the former dispatch center/county jail on Canal Street.
“We all look out for each other,” Thomas said. “That old county jail, we pay that utility bill. It runs about $2,000 a month. We pay about $25,000 worth of utilities down there in that building. We are not down there. We all try to work together now.”
“Well, I ended up seeing the trailer out in the county,” McCoy replied. “It was said that the trailer was sent to the scrap yard. How am I seeing it if it was scrapped?”
The trailer in question was taken out the county’s inventory list when it was determined that the structure was “unhabitable.” The trailer was housed at the county jail to provide living accommodation for the facility’s warden.
“Once it was taken out of inventory, I didn’t care what happened to it, whether it got crushed, hauled off, anything,” Thomas said. “You were the ones who told us that it was unlivable and couldn’t nobody live in it. That is what you told me. That is why we took it off the inventory and told them to get rid of it.”
McCoy said there is a proper way for the county to demolish county property, adding that he later discovered the trailer never made it to the scrap yard but was rather discovered on private property.
“It was said that it headed to the scrap yard, and then we found the trailer,” McCoy said. “That is not something we want to do. After I talked to you about it, the trailer moved. The trailer wasn’t scrapped. If it an across the scale, then we would have a receipt because that was money coming to the jail.”
Thomas said he did not know what happened to the trailer after it was taken off the county’s inventory list.
“The only thing I know was that after it was taken off our inventory, it is no longer our problem,” Thomas said.
“This wasn’t done right,” McCoy replied. “There is a brand-new tin roof on it. That is like me taking one of our old cars and giving it to my uncle because it isn’t any good. That ain’t right.”
Thomas then told McCoy the trailer “was sitting on county property now.”
“It is out there on the fairgrounds,” Thomas said. “Go out there and look.”
As of Monday afternoon, The Herald confirmed the trailer, with what appeared to be a new roof, was located at the Yazoo County Fairgrounds.
“It was moved out there a couple of weeks ago then because it has been sitting out there on Center Ridge Road,” McCoy said.
“Well, that is what they told me,” Thomas replied. “That is where they told me it was. I went out there and looked. And that is where I saw it. That’s all I can tell you.”
McCoy added that he wanted no part of the issue, adding that it “is being looked into by the state.”
“Well, that is what they are here for,” replied Thomas.
