JEFFERSON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark — The rift between two Jefferson County leaders continues to grow.
In January it was over food, and in May it was credit card issues. Now, the sheriff has been calling out the county judge over funding to get period products for inmates.
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods explained how over a year ago funding was the biggest problem for him and his team. And while it's there now problems have still been popping up for the county jails.
“We're presented with other challenges, dating back to October last year, which is a continuous denial of claims for vendors and services and goods that we receive or utilize for both facilities,” said Sheriff Woods.
The most recent issue has been a lack of period products at the adult detention center and juvenile justice center.
“Not only is it a constitutional duty, but it is a moral obligation to provide those things because it is along the line of medical,” Woods explained.
Sheriff Woods said that they've called vendors who supply these items and the reason they can't fulfill the orders is due to the lack of money.
“Because of past due bills that have gone unpaid, we're forced to use other means to try to satisfy payment for those,” said Woods.
His assistant supervisor went to the store to buy products for the jails, but money was again the issue.
“She swipes a corporate credit card from Simmons issued by the Sheriff's office that it's been suspended,” said Woods.
He said the same thing happened when he tried his card, which led him to use his personal card.
“I was reimbursed yesterday from the very fund which we had not been able to access for the very purpose because the credit cards have been suspended,” said Woods.
The Jefferson County Judge who Sheriff Woods said is in charge of allocating those funds told us that the sheriff recently received over $900,000 from the quorum court.
Though the sheriff said if funds are there he and his staff cannot use them.
“If we don't have access to use them and we know that when we use them, the bill is not going to get paid vendors are not going to continue to extend credit to the county,” said Woods.
In a statement sent to us, the county judge shared the following,
“If there's an invoice or if there's a claim that is denied we make a notation to properly correct the claim, send it back and we will pay. We do that with every one of the claims and so it is in no way to hinder him. In no way do we hinder anyone from taking care of their business. It's a big distraction amongst everything else we should be doing, which is making sure that detainees are safe, that the public is safe.”
Sheriff Woods said he just hopes these issues can be resolved soon and he'll continue doing what he can for the jails.
He also explained that products were donated by people once they learned about the problem.
The judge and sheriff are set to meet in court over everything that's been going on for quite some time on September 14.