UP AND RUNNING

The Belmont County Jail addition is finally open for business. It has been a long time coming but as the adage says: Better late than never. The new addition should help pump much-needed revenue into the county coffers. The savings started to be realized already as Belmont County Sheriff's Department personnel transported all the prisoners shipped out to the Jefferson County lockup back to be Belmont County. No more rental fees will prove a huge savings. More importantly, housing inmates from other counties will spark a cash flow into Belmont County. We cannot dwell on why it took so long to get up and running. But rather, county officials need to make sure the addition operates efficiently and well-staffed for the long haul.