A debate over holding cells leads to a push for progress in the city of Lake Ozark. 

    Early this past Sunday morning the city police department had to let a DWI offender go. The officer that was booking the offender was the only one who could respond quickly to a fight inside the city limits involving a fellow officer.  The DWI offender could not be kept in the new police department due to a lack of a holding cell. 

    Police Chief Mark Maples says the officer had to have priorities.

    "Yeah, it happens," Maples said. "So the guy gets a break because the officer had to go to an emergency call. So that's kind of what happened."

    "It's no different than if an officer is on a traffic stop and all of the sudden his radio goes off and there's an emergency and he has to respond. Guess what, you just didn't get a ticket cause he's got something that is more of a priority. That's what happened in that particular instance." 

    Last night at the Lake Ozark Special Board meeting the city debated its overall finances and asked if the holding cells could be pushed up in the plans for construction. 

    "The jail cells come up because it is just something that is not completed yet. So we are just looking at when are we going to be able to finish that section of the move. That's what it all boils down to."

    "The city ran into some fiscal issues and so now we are just trying to figure out when we are going to take care of that. It looks like we will be taking care of that the first part of 2010. 

    The police chief will provide the city with a schematic to work from to put the cells out for bid.  Cost estimates for two cells with functional bathroom facilities are around $25,000.