The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners — by a 4-3 vote — rejected a proposal to allow county voters to decide whether the county should pay for building a new jail.

During the board’s meeting Monday, Commissioner Gary Brinn proposed that the county seek permission from the N.C. General Assembly to hold a referendum on the jail issue during the May 2014 primary elections. Brinn and fellow commissioners Stan Deatherage and Hood Richardson voted for the proposal, but board Chairman Jerry Langley and commissioners Al Klemm, Ed Booth and Robert Belcher voted against it.

As soon as the vote was taken, Brinn resigned from the board’s jail committee.

“I’m going to resign from the jail committee. I will not be a part of anything that jams something down the throat like that. I just not will be a part of it,” Brinn said.

“We accept your resignation,” said Langley, who appointed Belcher to replace Brinn on the jail committee.

In making his proposal for a referendum, Brinn said, “As I’ve traveled the county and talked with my fellow citizens, the (top) item discussed is the jail. I’ve taken so many phone calls that I can’t even keep count of them. The same thing, the jail, is their concern.”

Brinn said he concluded the best way to deal with the jail issue was to carry it to the voters in the form of a referendum.

“In the terms of dollars that are being proposed to build a new jail, it’s comparable to the millions spent in school bonds. The people had a say in that, and I fell they should have a say whether we build a jail or not,” Brinn said.

Brinn, Richardson and Deatherage are not convinced a new jail is needed, saying other options either have not been fully explored or explored at all. Deatherage said he, Brinn and Richardson have made sound arguments against building a new jail.

“I really haven’t heard a good argument why we should spent this amount of money to put our jail in a location that is six miles away from the county seat,” Deatherage said.

Richardson also weighed in on the matter.

“The voters and the taxpayers have a right to have a say in this issue because you’re taking $20 million of their money and spending it. … Taxpayers need to have a say when their money is being wasted like this,” he said.