The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors met this week and approved a motion to repair the generator transformer switch at the Pearl River County Detention Center.

Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison said lightning struck the generator transformer about two months ago and he discovered the switch was damaged.
The generator will work but will not transfer and so it has to be manually switched on, Allison said.
The cost to repair the switch is $20,099.
District I Supervisor Anthony Hales said he needed to be sure the repair was going to work and what kind of dangerous situations could occur with a loss of power.
Allison said if there was a fire or a fight in the dorms and the power was off, he does not believe officers could manually unlock all the doors and get all the staff and inmates out in time.
District IV Supervisor Patrick Lee said it’s a bad place for the lights to go out and his concern is for the safety of the officers down there.
District III Supervisor asked who could go out there and manually work the switch.
Allison said it depended on the time of day, but the majority of the staff are leery of it.
Hales said he would prefer that people without experience working with electricity not go out there.
In other action:
The board accepted the resignation of Pearl River County Hospital and Nursing Home Board of Trustee Dr. Rita Diggs-Jones.
In her resignation letter, Jones said, “I enjoyed celebrating the successes with both employees and board members; however, over the past several months, because there have not been full and truthful disclosures, the board has allowed its focus to be high-jacked and diverted by promises of grandeur at the expense of patients, staff, the facility and the public to whom we owe a fiduciary responsibility.”
There are five members on the board of trustees and each supervisor appoints one.
Hale said he is searching for Jones’ replacement.
The board also accepted the resignation of Pearl River County road manager, Dale Miller.
Lee said Miller accepted another position with another company.
Supervisors voted road foreman Charlie Schielder as interim road manager until a replacement is found.
Supervisors approved $3,000 payment to Hattiesburg-based phone company, Gilliand Electronics, for six months of phone service at the Department of Human Services office.
At the July 23 supervisor’s meeting, Department of Human Services Director Marvin Houston told board members the phones stopped ringing in the office in February.