Officers readied holding cells at the Meridian Police Department on Tuesday and prepared to receive city prisoners starting at midnight.

The undertaking was the result of failed contract negotiations between the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County for use of the county jail.

“Unless there is a compromise, we will have two jails,” said City Councilman George Thomas, who represents Ward 1. “There are some major problems with the billing procedure, and we just cannot accept the contract the way it is.”

The contract between the city and the county was set to expire at midnight on Tuesday. The city and county have been unable to agree on terms of a new contract, and it appears neither party will give in.

The Meridian City Council on Tuesday approved a contract for use of the county jail with these changes: 1) prisoners arrested by the East Mississippi Drug Task Force would be considered county prisoners; 2) the per-day fee would increase from $20 to $23; and 3) the city would pay for prisoners on a 24-hour basis.

After the meeting, the city’s contract was taken to the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors, where supervisors rejected it and passed their own contract.

The county’s contract includes the $23-a-day fee, and supervisors agreed to treat prisoners arrested by the task force as county prisoners. But they would not agree to the 24-hour billing period.

City officials have said it is unfair to pay for two days when a prisoner is booked into the jail at 11 p.m. and released at 12:30 a.m. County officials have said it would be too labor-intensive to keep up with what time people are booked in and out of the jail.

Craig Hitt is president of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors and represents District 3. He was under the impression the city and county had agreed on the contract before Tuesday’s meeting. He said the jail committee met last week, and he believed the issue about the task force was the last piece of the puzzle.

“This thing has not been brought down to the last second on our part,” Hitt said. “I did not know anything about a meeting of the city council (on Tuesday) until someone showed up here with a different contract expecting us to approve it.”

Board attorney Rick Barry said city prisoners who were arrested before the contract expired will remain in the county jail. There are currently 21 city prisoners in the county jail; four of those are felony offenders.

Mayor John Robert Smith said while the city is not prepared to go into the jail business permanently, he believes the city’s actions are necessary to ensure a fair and equitable contract is achieved.

Smith said law enforcement agencies outside the county have agreed to house the city’s prisoners if the city and county cannot come to an agreement.