Scott County to use inmate labor to clear limbs along roads

BENTON, Mo. — Scott County Jail inmates will once again help clean up the county. This time it will be limbs instead of trash along county highways.

County commissioners met with Rick Walter, sheriff; Norman Brant, county highway department superintendent; and Rob Furlow, jail administrator, during their regular meeting Tuesday to "work out some of the details," Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger said.

"Our highway department is overwhelmed like they are everywhere else," Burger said. "This will save the county some money. Over a period of time we will be able to get the roads cleaned up."

"Tuesday morning they are going to start," Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn said. "I'm excited about the use of prisoners."

Participation of everybody involved, including the prisoners, is on a voluntary basis, according to commissioners.

Officials said they would like to have about eight inmates working along with highway departments workers and corrections officers or sheriff's deputies.

Brant said as in some places crews just pushed limbs out of the way to clear roads for traffic, the cleanup crews will have to go back and haul the limbs alongside many of the county roads.

In related business, commissioners approved the purchase of safety equipment to protect county workers during cleanup operations.

Brant will purchase about a dozen sets of hard hats and insulating liners to protect workers from falling ice and limbs and ice cleats that attach with Velcro to the outside of boots to prevent falls while working.

Other safety measures that will be taken include putting up signs warning motorists that crews are working in the area, according to Brant.