Clay Sheriff’s Applying For Grant Through Department Of Health

Clay County Sheriff’s Office has applied for almost $300,000 in grant funding for the jail.

Sheriff Brandon Boone said that the grant money through the Department of Health will be used to purchase 4 transport vehicles, a transport van, and new HVAC systems.

“For the last couple of years we’ve been housing inmates all across the Upper Cumberland,” Boone said. “Even as far as Roberson County and that’s a two-hour trip. So we’ve put a lot of wear and tear on our vehicles, our transport vehicles, taking inmates back and forth and to the facility themselves.”

Boone said that the grant requires money to be paid upfront, but will be fully reimbursed. He said that as soon as the grant is approved they will be able to put bids out for their purchases.

Boone said that as it stands, the money will not be able to be put towards the new jail project.

“If we had our new jail underway, but obviously that is not the case right now,” Boone said. “And you can’t buy things that you anticipate using two or three years down the road for the jail, it has to be current. There is a timeline and we were sort of pushed to apply, and they acted like they were pretty confident we would be awarded the grant.”

Boone said that the new jail is still at a standstill while it awaits TDEC approval.