LaGRANGE – The Troup County Commission discussed an urgent request from the jail to replace two leaking hot water tanks during its regular meeting on Thursday.

The water tanks hold all the hot water for the jail and sheriff’s department, and without them both would be completely without hot water.

“We have two 500-gallon hot water storage tanks that are failing that need to be replaced,” said Division Director Dexter Wells. “The lowest bid was Foster’s Plumbing (Contractors) at $34,544.81.”

According to Wells, the tanks are an immediate necessity for the jail which requires hot water for the kitchen, medical services, laundry and the sheriff’s office in addition to the inmates themselves.

“Commissioners, keep in mind that we house over 400 inmates every day, so you (have to) think about washing that many uniforms, that many sheets and that many trays (and) bodies,” said Sheriff James Woodruff.

Only the storage tanks will be replaced, not the heating units, though one upgrade was requested of the new tanks.

“One thing that we did ask for in this one that we don’t have in the current one is there are two tanks that are tied together, and we have no way to separate them, so we are asking them to put in a valve, so that if this happens again, and we do have a blow out, we could isolate it, so that we would not be without hot water,” said Wells.

The commissioners did express disappointment at the lack of local bids on the project, but due to the pressing need to replace the tanks the county was not able to wait for more local bids.

The Troup County Board of Commissioners plans to vote on the bid’s approval on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at 100 Ridley Ave.