.jpg)
Wlaf1450
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- The County Commission held its workshop Monday evening, setting the agenda for next week’s regular monthly meeting. Agenda items up for a vote next week include budget amendments, as well as a GPS monitoring contract, along with other business items.
“We’ve been talking about this for six months or longer- the laws have changed, and this is something we are required to have,” said County Mayor Jack Lynch. The sheriff department can’t put GPS monitors on inmates without the county commission approving a contract with these companies.
He said he was uncertain if the service needed to be bid out, so he had asked County Attorney Joe Coker to weigh in on it.
“The County gets zero money from it; I don’t know if its biddable or not, so I asked County Attorney Joe Coker to check,” Lynch said.
“It’s my understanding this is not supposed to cost the county any money, you don’t collect anything from it and you don’t pay anything for it, so if that is the case then it doesn’t meet the threshold to need to be bid. We are required to have someone approved to do it,” Coker said, explaining it was state law. He also said that more than one company could be approved by the commission.
“It is not something that has to be bid, you can have more than one and as long as they meet qualifications, there is no reason the commission should not approve that. Your sole role in the matter is to authorize a contract with companies that provide these services. All you can do is approve the contract and allow the company to enter into a contract with the county.
Sheriff Wayne Barton said it is something state law requires.
“It is a bond condition that is set. The state has already put all the criteria in place of what they are required to do. It has nothing to do with us, it has nothing to do with you all, as long as they meet state requirements,” Barton said.
Each company that does this, they have to be certified by the state.
Commissioner Rusty Orick said, “we will just empower the mayor to sign off on this.”
“It’s just like a bonding company, we have several listed for the inmates to call, we will have several of these listed too,” Barton suggested.
He explained that they could not let inmates out on bond without these GPS monitors if that was ordered as the judge’s condition of release.
County Mayor Jack Lynch said he would send any contracts over to the County Attorney to check out first.
In other business, Register of Deeds dilapidated items including four Dell monitors and nine office chairs will be voted on next week as well.
Commissioner David Adkins asked the commission to declare the sanitation department’s excavator that burned up last year, to be declared surplus, and take sealed bids on it.
“I want to do it with a sealed bid…the bucket is worth money, and I won’t let it go for less than the bucket is worth,” Adkins said. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/09/2025-6AM)