Sheriff Tim Gobble announced today that contract negotiations have been finalized with Securus Technologies to provide the inmate phone service for the Bradley County jail.

Gobble said the agreement gives the county a better rate of return in comparison with the current contract and calls for a $50,000 signing bonus.

Inmates can place collect calls from their cellblock to phones outside the jail. A portion of the revenue that Securus will receive from the phone system is returned to the county as a revenue item.

"This is tremendous news," said Gobble. "We plan to use the signing bonus to continue with our program of replacing older, high-mileage cars that have over 200,000 miles showing on the odometer that are used daily in our patrol division."

Gobble said the older vehicles are not as fuel-efficient as newer vehicles that were added to the fleet this spring.

"As we gradually phase out higher-mileage cars we are improving our fuel efficiency and reducing costs," Gobble said. "Continuing this effort in conjunction with our program to reduce our overall fuel consumption is helping to save gas and taxpayer dollars."

To read the sheriff’s fuel-saving initiative log onto their website, www.bradleysheriff.com.

Gobble pointed out that through this signing bonus two new vehicles can be purchased at no additional cost to taxpayers.