Shelby County Committed $350,000 of a Roughly $500,000 Contingency Fund to a Jail Study 21 Days Before Eight New Commissioners Take Office.

SHELBY COUNTY COMMISSION

MEMPHIS, August 10, 2026 - The Shelby County Commission voted on August 10 to allocate up to $350,000 from its contingency fund for a study of the county jail, over objections that the appropriation would leave roughly $150,000 for a commission that takes office three weeks later.

The resolution requests the issuance of a study on the findings of the Justice Center Ad Hoc Committee. It was sponsored by Vice Chair David C. Bradford Jr. and Commissioner Mickell Lowery, and came to the floor without a committee recommendation after being flagged as not meeting the requirements of the commission's permanent rules.

The vote was ten in favor, one against, one abstention.

Why it was flagged

Vice Chair Bradford explained the red lettering on the agenda himself. The item did not meet permanent rules because of the funding source, and that funding source did not meet with the finance department's approval.

The county finance director gave her reason directly when Commissioner Henri E. Brooks asked. She said the county is currently below its fund balance funding policy, that she has not approved anything requiring the use of fund balance, and that this item came to her without a funding source, leaving fund balance as the only alternative. She said that was the sole and complete reason it was not approved.

Asked whether she would approve it now that the commission contingency account was named as the source, she said if the funding source is the commission contingency account, it is approved.

The number

Commissioner Brooks asked whether the ad hoc committee had issued a formal solicitation for the study. Vice Chair Bradford said no.

She then asked how the county arrived at $350,000.

He said that outside the commission he is a professional engineer who worked in the consulting industry for more than twenty years, and that he started from that knowledge. He said a number of consultants had already reached out and were interested, and that he arrived at the figure based on their input and his own experience.

He also said the item is a request for qualifications rather than a fixed price. Once qualifications come in, he said, the next commission would select a firm and negotiate the final fee, so the amount may not end up being the final figure.

What the study would produce

Commissioner Caswell asked how this differs from work already done by the Tennessee Corrections Institute.

Vice Chair Bradford said the request for qualifications is the result of the ad hoc committee's work, and that the prior report recommended hiring a consultant as the next step. The study would examine what is needed at the existing facility and what it would cost, and what relocating the facility to another site would involve, including candidate locations and their value. He said it would also produce a construction cost for the overall project.

Commissioner Britney Thornton asked whether the process addresses broadening the scope of the facility toward rehabilitation. He said that was among the ad hoc committee's recommendations, and that the study covers what the county has and what it actually needs, including bed counts and mental health capacity.

Asked separately where the figure of a billion dollars for a new jail came from, Vice Chair Bradford said he was not sure, that the media had said it and he believed the current sheriff had mentioned it, but that he had not seen any official document from anyone who does this for a living attaching that value to the project.

The argument over timing

Commissioner Caswell said he understood the contingency fund held about $500,000, meaning the incoming commission would be left with roughly $150,000 for the remainder of the year.

Commissioner Miska Clay Bibbs made the same calculation and reached the same figure. She said her hesitation was about where the money comes from, and that in exactly 21 days there would be a new commission, a new mayor, and a new sheriff. She said she would rather have all of them on the same page about how to move forward.

Commissioner Brooks argued for waiting. She said whatever one commission does is not binding on another, that eight newly elected commissioners will need a tour, an education process and information, and that the body should pump the brakes and let the new members engage in the process.

Commissioner Thornton argued the opposite. She said the body has toured the facility, is familiar with the issue, and has been caught up to speed in executive session, and that she would not want to put the decision on the lap of eight incoming commissioners. She said detainees would have to keep waiting, that the county is losing staff who do not want to work in the facility, and that nothing could be a greater gift to the incoming commission than information it can act on.

Chairwoman Shante K. Avant said she would support the item. She said the commission assembled the ad hoc committee with people in contact with the criminal justice system, who spent two and a half to three months giving input and data, and that the information does not change with a new commission.

Vice Chair Bradford said he had brought a similar resolution months earlier and the mayor vetoed it. He said this version had been cut back to a request that the mayor do something, that he recognized there were only two weeks left in office and the matter would fall to the next administration, but that he did not want to leave office without getting the study moving.

Commissioner Thornton, in closing, asked the public to pay attention to financial disclosures for the incoming commission. She said it had been an area of interest for her to probe whether special interests funded newly elected commissioners, and that she hoped the new commission would entertain all options without showing preference for any one location.

The vote

Voting in favor: Commissioners Whaley, Clay Bibbs, Sugarmon, Mills, Szalaj, Wright, Thornton, Morrison, Lowery, and Bradford.

Voting against: Commissioner Brooks.

Abstaining: Commissioner Caswell.

Ten ayes, one no, one abstention. The motion passed.

What happens next

The resolution allocates up to $350,000 in commission contingency funds and requests the issuance of a study. Selection of a firm and negotiation of the final fee would fall to the commission seated after August 24, which is the current body's final meeting. Vice Chair Bradford said the RFQ results would give the next administration renovation costs, relocation options and an overall construction cost. No timeline for issuing the request for qualifications was stated.

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