Medical and legal services will come at a higher price for Warren County starting Jan. 1, thanks to two raises granted by the county board Monday.

Supervisors approved a contract with Dr. Robert Ford to provide care for inmates at the Warren County Jail worth $2,750 a month, or $950 more a month than the previous contract. Supervisors said travel costs played into the request and the decision to OK the higher rate. Ford, whose practice is on Mission 66, has been the jail’s contract physician for incarcerated persons since 2005.

“He’s been great for us,” Board President Bill Lauderdale said. “We’ve been real lucky.”

Lauderdale added Ford had shouldered the cost of driving inmates in need of medical care to River Region Medical Center and other hospitals, which “cost the Dickens” in terms of time and money, he added.

Terms call for Ford to visit with inmates at the jail up to five days a week, perform consultations, referrals and dispose of any biohazards. It can be terminated at any time by either the doctor or the county, given 30 days notice.

A separate pact for legal services was OK’d for $185 an hour for attorney Blake Teller. Contracts for the county’s two previous attorneys had run $150 an hour. The position of county attorney is one of 10 so-called “will-and-pleasure” positions that supervisors may consider at any time. Though state law allows counties to pay attorneys as employees, Warren County has left its subcontractor-style arrangement alone.

Teller replaced Marcie Southerland in the position after she took a job with the District Attorney’s Office.

Supervisors approved Teller’s raise without a word of debate, but was hesitant on the jail doctor. The vote was 4-1, with District 1 Supervisor John Arnold voting no.

Arnold had seconded a motion from District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon to table the contract and consult with Sheriff Martin Pace about cost.

“Is it time for us to get with the sheriff about costs?” Selmon asked.

That motion failed 3-2 before four-fifths of the board went with Ford’s request. In 2010, the county took proposals at Pace’s request to outsource medical visits, only to back away from the idea.

The sheriff’s department also employs a nurse to handle inmate medical care at $43,243 a year, according to the county’s 2014-15 budget adopted in September.