Lincoln County Sheriff Wiley Calcote and Brookhaven Police ChiefPap Henderson urged county supervisors to help them with repairsafter a busted main water line flooded both offices a monthago.

Since then, the law enforcement leaders said, both offices hadbeen operating on bare floors, with glue exposed, and manipulatingfiles in boxes stacked to the ceiling.

“It’s an embarrassment,” District One Supervisor the Rev. JerryWilson said. “It isn’t right.”

Calcote and Henderson asked supervisors to take a more activerole after an insurance check received earlier this week fell farshort of meeting damage estimates.

Calcote said his office received a check for $20,000 to replacethe flooring, but the lowest bid he has received for the repairshas been for $32,000.

Henderson said he had not received a check for either flooringor damage to building contents as of Monday.

Calcote said he had not yet received one for contents, but wasnot hopeful it would cover the costs.

“We have some computers filled with water,” he said. “He told usjust to dry them out. You can’t do that.”

The board agreed not to accept the $20,000 check for flooring inthe sheriff’s department, consult a contractor to get damageestimates and renegotiate with the insurance agency. Members addedthey would move as quickly as possible to get the repairs made.

In other matters, Wilson announced that the Terry Road Bridgewas reopened to traffic on Monday.

The bridge has been closed for about three months because timehad worn it down, he said. Some supports were rusted and weak.

“The bridge was weak and it couldn’t take a lot of pressure,”Wilson said. “I closed the bridge because I was worried that itmight collapse while someone was crossing it. I asked school busesnot to use it some time ago.”

The old steel-and-timber bridge was replaced by one made ofconcrete that cost approximately $45,000, he said.

The county also agreed to purchase a bulletproof vest for eachof the county’s two constables. A federal program should reimbursethe county for half the cost of the vests.

“We don’t make a lot of stops, but we go up to a lot of doors tosee people who aren’t happy to see us,” Constable Charles Smithsaid during his presentation to the board.

The board also went into a lengthy executive session to hear aresident’s complaint on “the competence and conduct of a countyemployee at the Lincoln County Jail” and to discuss the possibilityof an internal investigation into jail procedures and policies.

When the board returned from the session, County Attorney BobAllen said there would be no investigation and that the complaintcentered around a mother concerned that her son was not receivingenough food.

The food given to inmates is charted as to type and content,approved by the state Health Department and meets dietary standardsestablished by that agency, Allen said.