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The Lowndes County Sheriff Chris West did a bit of rearranging of offices last week, shuffling personnel to ensure investigators have the space they need to serve Lowndes County citizens.

The Sheriff moved his investigators into offices at the John Hulett Detention Facility on Aug. 23. To make the space available, command staff and administrators relocated to a building at 207 South Washington Street in Hayneville leased from Fain Thornton.

“We owe a lot of thanks to Mrs. Thornton for allowing us to lease the space,” said Lt. Jeremy Marvin. “She’s been very helpful and very understanding of our current situation. It’s not the most ideal setup, but it’s very comfortable.’

The move comes after a months-long effort by the Sheriff and the Lowndes County Commission to relocate investigators’ offices. Formerly housed in a building at 504 Alabama Highway 21, investigators worked there while navigating concerns over the facility’s leaky roof and mold Previous attempts to relocate investigators had failed, resulting in tensions between the Sheriff and Commissioner Robert Harris after the commission ordered the Sheriff to vacate the building and West refused to move into the former Hayneville Town Hall as requested.

“I’m happy the Sheriff was able to move [investigators] out of the building because it was a health problem,” said County Commission Chairman Charlie King, Jr. “It was good that they moved out of the building and hopefully we can move forward from here on in trying to serve the people.”

Housing investigators in the jail ensures ample and secure space to interview witnesses and suspects, see self-reporting offenders and store evidence, something not possible in the former Town Hall, West said. The move does present challenges, he added, because command staff are separated from those they supervise.

“We couldn’t move investigators in here (at 207 South Washington Street) because it would have needed so much work to secure,” West said. “We would need to add burglar bars all the way around and would have to create an interview room, investing between $20,000 and $30,000. Vanessa Davis is in charge of the jail, but she’s not at the jail. But investigators see so many people who don’t need to be exposed to the public, so we just gave the whole jail area to them and moved everyone else down here.”

The solution is temporary, West noted, calling the move a “band aid” until something more operational becomes available.

“There was no way investigators could move into the Town Hall with OCAP,” West said. “Rather than keep going back and forth, we just took care of it and we’re just trying to pay for it ourselves.

“We want to get past this whole thing with the building,” West said. “Because it’s not doing anyone any good. It’s not helping the commission and it’s not helping us. And the main thing is it’s not helping the citizens. People are talking about it, but it doesn’t make for a healthy community.

“I never wanted this. I never wanted to be crossed up with anybody. I care about serving my community, but we can’t serve them if we don’t have the things we need to serve them properly. I want the people to have the best we can provide. I don’t think that is too much to ask for.”