|
By THOMAS JENKINS
Staff Writer
To quote baseball great Yogi Berra, It was deja-vu all over again.
Howard County commissioners found themselves embroiled in a heated argument concerning the construction of a new jail facility during a special meeting Thursday, revisiting the controversy that split the court more than a year ago: Whether to build a 96-bed jail or a 144-bed jail.
Commissioners met with project architect Jeff Heffelfinger and construction manager Danny Butler during the meeting, as the pair delivered good financial news to the court.
"After opening the bids last week, it appears the construction budget for the jail is going to come in at $1.2 million under budget," said Heffelfinger. "The total construction budget with the bids we have now and are locked in for is $7.8 million. With that in mind, we have some alternate plans we need to consider."
Those alternate plans included building the shell to house an additional 48-bed future expansion of the jail, the construction of cells and other requirements in the shell to complete the addition, and changing the sally port surface from asphalt to concrete.
If the commissioners decided to approve the first two alternate plans, at the end of construction the county would have a completed 144-bed jail and still manage to come in approximately $300,000 under the bond-funded project's overall budget.
"This bid amazed me," Butler told the court. "I was shocked at the bid prices. You'll never get an opportunity like this again. You'll never be able to make the 48-bed addition that cheap again. The numbers are good. I haven't seen numbers this good in a long time."
Heffelfinger echoed Butler's sentiments on the project's budget, saying it was "a good problem to have."
"It just makes sense to go ahead and build the additional bed space," said Heffelfinger. "If you go with the 96 beds, you're looking at $111,000 per bed by the end of the project. If you go with the two alternates and make it a 144-bed jail, you're going to be paying $80,000 a bed. That's a 30 percent difference in cost. If you were to come back five or six years from now and add those 48 beds on, even at today's prices, you would be looking at $2.5 million to $3 million."
And while the idea of getting a 144-bed facility at the same cost as a 96-bed jail might seem like a fiscal dream come true, tempers flared between members of the court over how to handle the possible expansion.
"We sold this to the people as a 96-bed jail, and i think that's what we should stick to," said Commissioner Gary Simer, who, along with County Judge Mark Barr, was opposed to the construction of a 144-bed jail when the option was brought to the court more than a year ago.
On the other side of the fence, Commissioners Bill Crooker and Jerry Kilgore vehemently support the 144-bed option, an idea the pair also supported when the court first began looking at building a new jail more than three years ago.
"It looks like a no-brainer to me," said Kilgore. "We can still come out of this more than $300,000 under budget. Right now it seems like we're doing everything we can to keep people out of jail."
Crooker agreed, saying the county's efforts to keep the jail population low for cost purposes may not be in the best interest of the people.
"It seems like there are a lot of people walking around on bond who shouldn't be on the streets," said Crooker.
Barr said the move would put the county "in the jail business," and could put a strain on county coffers in the long run.
"You still have the cost of an additional jailer and we're already having a hard time getting them to come to work for us," said Barr. "You also have to cool and heat the additional space, even if you're not using it. Do we really want to get into the jail business? I think we need to take a good, hard look at that.
"There's something you all need to know. I spoke with county judges in several areas, including Winkler, Reagan, Bailey and Upton counties, and they all say the same thing. They say they are having problems keeping their jail full. People keep telling us if we build it, they will come, and that's just not true."
Heffelfinger said the heating and cooling system planned for the jail is "zoned," giving the administration the option to suspend heating or cooling in different areas of the jail if they aren't being used.
"You can't allow the temperature in those rooms to drop below 40 degrees," said Heffelfinger. "That's to protect the sprinkler system from freezing. However, other than that you could zone out an area if you needed to."
Kilgore cited meetings between the county and federal agencies currently looking for jail space for inmates, but Barr and Simer remained unconvinced.
"I'm against it," said Barr firmly.
Crooker shot back almost immediately.
"You said you supported a 96-bed jail when you ran for office, and you're simply not going to go back on that," said Crooker heatedly.
Heffelfinger said the court will need to make up its mind quickly if its going to act on the bids.
"I don't want the court to feel like we're pressuring it, but these bids are only good for 30 days," he told commissioners. "We can't require them to hold it any longer than that, and on Monday steel is going to jump 15 percent. If we wait until May 15, these bids — and the savings — won't be any good."
Barr said he was reluctant to make a decision without Commissioner Emma Brown, who was forced to leave the meeting shortly after it started due to illness.
"We have a member of the court missing," said Barr, "and this is a very big decision. If we give you an answer Monday morning during our regular court meeting, will that be in time to keep the bids?"
Butler said if the decision was made Monday morning, he was hopeful he could keep the bids locked in.
"I will tell you this, if you decide not to finish out the additional 48 beds, I wouldn't even build the shell at this point," said Butler. "This is a very cheap opportunity to get a 144-bed jail. That's my opinion on it."
Heffelfinger stressed to the court he and Butler have nothing to gain from the addition of the 48 beds, having both already been locked in to contracts that would not benefit from the expansion.
Also during the meeting, commissioners approved re-bidding several items in the construction budget.
"I'd like to re-bid the fencing, the sprinkler system and the laundry equipment," said Butler. "The prices we received are just way too high. I feel like we can get some better prices if we re-bid it."
Commissioners are expected to render a decision on the jail size Monday during their meeting at 10 a.m.
Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at
| 
