Springfield prisoners to be housed in Joplin City Jail, city to receive $100,000

Springfield City Council will vote on an ordinance Monday night that would transfer city prisoners to the Joplin Municipal Jail.

KSPR reports the City of Joplin will receive $100,000 to take care of Springfield's overflow of prisoners.

The Springfield city jail has been overcrowded for years, a problem that became worse in April 2015 when Greene County stopped accepting municipal prisoners.

The text of the ordinance is printed below:

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING the City Manager, or his designee, to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Joplin, Missouri, for use of the Joplin Jail for housing City inmates and declaring an emergency.

WHEREAS, the City is in need of a detention facility to house the City's municipal prisoners; and WHEREAS, the city of Joplin, Missouri, has offered to work with the City to house certain municipal prisoners of the City in the Joplin Jail during the term of a contract between the parties.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, as follows, that:

Section 1 –The City Manager, or his designee, is hereby authorized to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Joplin, Missouri; said agreement to be in substantially the form as that document attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as "Exhibit A."

Section 2 –The City Council hereby finds and declares that an emergency exists in that this Ordinance relates to the preservation of the public health, safety, and morals pursuant to Sections 2.12(1) of the City Charter in that the housing of municipal prisoners in a detention facility is crucial to the effective enforcement of City Ordinance violations. Therefore, this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after passage.