The most challenging issue facing Kennebec and other counties is how to deal with their jail populations — both the people sentenced to jail, and the even great number of people charged with a crime but who haven’t been tried and sentenced. The growing opioid epidemic has caused the problem to go from troublesome to extremely difficult to manage.

Kennebec County officials are working on both short-term and long-term solutions, with the hope that these ideas will enable the county to avoid the need to build a new and very costly jail facility. Patsy Crockett, appointed a county commissioner earlier this year, is working on a long-term answer that will minimize the cost for taxpayers. Let’s give her a full term so she can keep working on the best possible solution.

Linda Weymouth

Augusta