RICHMOND – Sheriff Scott Childers and Ray County commissioners agree at least some inmates must be housed elsewhere while the county grapples with structural deficiencies and potential health issues at the Ray County Jail. How much the county would pay to “house out” inmates, how long and how many are unanswered questions, but the cost would be considerable, he said. “I don’t think it’s a long-term solution because it would eventually bankrupt the county,” Childers said during Monday’s commission meeting. The half-cent jail sales tax plan on the Aug. 3 ballot would have raised an estimated $1 million annually, with half the amount dropped upon paying off the construction costs of the hoped-for new jail. Even if the jail tax proposal had passed, inmates could not have remained in the facility during construction of a new jail, given conditions at the existing sheet-metal-and-wood jail, Childers said last week during an interview. “If we keep them in there, we’re set for a lawsuit –…