The first meeting of the Jones County Board of Supervisors in 2020 proved to be an eventful one, as the supervisors voted to send a letter to other counties that supposedly received items from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office in recent months. Their suspicions about the giveaways occurred under the watch of former Sheriff Alex Hodge.
New Beat 2 Supervisor T. Larry Dykes broached the topic near the end of the meeting in Ellisville on Monday, January 6.
“I would like this new board to address the items that’s been removed from the sheriff’s office and given to other agencies; how many of the items were given, the amount of the items and who authorized these items to be given to these agencies. From what I understand, it was not the board of supervisors,” began Dykes.
“That’s right,” said Beat 1 Supervisor Johnny Burnett, the new board president.
“Therefore,” continued Dykes, “I think we need to look into this, because every item that was dismissed from the sheriff’s office – and it’s nothing personal with the past sheriff, so don’t take me wrong – but every item was bought with taxpayer money, be that drug money, grant money, whatever the case may be. So once that item is purchased, it becomes the property of the people of this county, not the sheriff’s office.”
Burnett suggested the supervisors send each of the agencies that received anything a letter requesting that they return the items to Jones County.
“If the items returned are deemed surplus property or unusable, then let the sheriff now dispose of these items with the approval of the board of supervisors,” noted Dykes.
The supervisors approved sending a letter to agencies in other counties that received items for the return of the property.
Dykes then asked if the State Auditor’s Office was coming to do an audit of the sheriff’s office.
New Sheriff Joe Berlin said his understanding was that the auditors would be coming in next week.
The supervisors also decided that an audit of the Magnolia Center in Jones County was in order.
The Magnolia Center is jointly operated by the city of Laurel and Jones County.
“I would really like for that place to be audited by the State Audit Department,” added Dykes. "It would be in both of their interests (Jones County and city of Laurel) to have it audited, just to keep everything kosher. I hope nothing shows up."
Dykes then made a motion for the Magnolia Center to be audited, and it was approved.