The local state legislative delegation met Monday with the Warren County Board of Supervisors to learn more and get an update on the location of a new county jail.

Board President Richard George told state senators Briggs Hopson and Debra Dixon and state House members Kevin Ford and Oscar Denton that county officials are at an impasse on the jail site.

According to state law, officials will have to get legislative approval to build a jail site more than a mile outside the city limits of Vicksburg.

County supervisors selected a site at the CERES Industrial Park, which has been met with resistance from city and economic development officials. Other proposed sites on Highway 80, Highway 27 and Highway 61 have also been discussed but residents and businesses have expressed their displeasure, mainly concerned with safety and land values the impact a jail facility might have.

The CERES site is in an area of the industrial park that is restricted from view from I-20 and is near the lagoon at the end of Armory Road, according to George.

The legislators were non-committal on where they stood in regard to a jail site.

“This is a decision of the local leaders to make and I’m not going to interfere with your authority,” Hopson said.

He said it would be difficult to clear the legislature if there were official objections to the jail site.

“We want all of you to be on the same page,” Denton said. “We don’t want to be in the middle of something.”

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said that sooner or later, the county will have to do something about a jail facility. Currently, the Warren County Sheriff’s Department is transporting misdemeanor inmates to Isaquenna County, which is more than an hour away round trip.

“We are spending a lot of money on transportation,” Selmon said. “We are going to get a jail either soon or later. Later, it’s going to be more money.”

Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr., said he was initially in favor of the jail site on land the county already owns in the industrial park, but changed his position after speaking with Mississippi Development Authority officials, Economic Development Director Pablo Diaz and Mark Buys with the chamber of commerce. He said Monday the city is officially against the jail site at CERES because it would hinder economic development at the industrial park.

“The city has no say-so or skin in the game on where the jail is going to be,” Flaggs said. “That’s strictly up to the county. But the law says it has to be in the county seat and that’s to ensure the taxpayers of the county and city get a fair shake. The city pays double taxes. We don’t get any revenue from county taxes.”

Flaggs said he will “not go against economic opportunities before a jail.”

He said he’s told state officials, including the governor, he’s against the jail being in the industrial park.

“Because it’s incumbent upon me to protect the interests of the city,” Flaggs said. “We can’t go to CERES because the economic interest of this city is too vital.”

District 2 Supervisor William Banks asked what economic development prospects have expressed concerns about the jail site in the industrial park.

“How many businesses have they brought in the last 30 years saying they want to move out there?” Banks asked.

Denton and Dixon suggested supervisors and city officials meet with MDA and local economic development to come up with a site before presenting any proposal to the state legislature.

MDA and county officials have not met together to discuss the site at the industrial park.

“We haven’t heard a peep from them,” George said.

Selmon said that it’s a shame the county and other local officials can’t seem to work together on something so important as the jail facility.

“If we can’t come together and put a jail in our community some where makes it appear we can’t move forward as a community,” Selmon said. “I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault, but I’m saying this is a simple decision to put a jail to help our community. And as a community it seems like we are divided, and if we are divided, we’re not going to have anything.”