Jackson Free Press

Hinds County jails are joining the buy-local movement.

This morning, Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis asked the board of supervisors to contract with a new commissary provider, Premiere Supply Link LLC.
 
Lewis, who took office late last year, told supervisors that switching to Premiere, a locally and minority-owned firm, enables his office to be better stewards of taxpayers' dollars. Under the agreement, Premiere would pay the county a 31-percent commission on sales compared to the 25-percent the county receives from its current food-services company, Chickasha, Okla.-based Tiger Commissary Services Inc.

Socrates Garrett, who represented the company with Dennis Martin, said the company has a 40,000-square-foot facility on Ellis Avenue that will be a "completely transparent operation." Premiere representatives also said the company is working on a similar deal with Madison County jails. Records from the Mississippi Secretary of State indicate that the company was created Nov. 8, 2011.
 
Supervisors approved the Premiere contract pending review by the board attorney. No dollar amount for the contract was given at the meeting. However, the county paid Tiger Services $195,785 in the 2010 fiscal year and $15,207 in fiscal year 2011, records show.

The commission the county collects goes to a fund that pays for inmate programs.
 
Several agenda items requested by new District 5 Supervisor Kenneth Stokes failed due to a lack of a second or passed on a conditional basis. Stokes' attempt to appoint Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba to the Hinds County Community College Board of Trustees failed to be seconded.
 
"For a routine appointment?," Stokes asked. Board Attorney Crystal Wise Martin explained that Lumumba, a city councilman, cannot hold the executive position of college trustee.
 
Stokes' request to name his son, Keith Stokes, to the county Economic Development Board passed pending a review by the state Ethics Commission. Stokes also wanted to rename County Penal Farm Road in honor of Robert T. White, but that effort failed as well. District 4 Supervisor Phil Fisher said he opposed renaming things for the sake of renaming things.

"It's just a matter of time before Kenny Stokes gets some help up here," Stokes said.

District 3 Supervisor Peggy Calhoun, whose father died recently, did not attend the meeting.