County approves engineering study for proposed jail and judicial center after consultant estimates $25M–$29M

County commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the county mayor to solicit engineering services for a proposed jail and judicial center after receiving preliminary cost ranges from a consultant.

The mayor told the commission he had spoken with Jim Langford, who provided rough figures: "we were talking in a range from 16,000,000 to 19,000,000 for a basic jail," and, for moving court functions to the same site, "the number that he shot me was between 9,000,000 and 10,000,000," producing an overall range "from 25,000,000 to 29,000,000." The mayor asked the commission to permit hiring an engineer to begin site work and evaluation.

Sheriff Ray told the commission the county's corrections workload and transport demands are growing. He said inspections found the jail's physical plant generally acceptable but noted a critical operational problem: limited single-cell capacity that prevents segregation of some offenders. On pending cases, the sheriff said what he had estimated as 200 pending cases was "for closer to 350 cases," and that transports and out-of-county holds are creating extra overtime and operational strain.

Commission discussion focused on whether to include courtrooms at the new site, the potential to free up space in the existing building, and staffing and safety implications. Commissioners asked about test holes/core drilling and whether a separate courtroom at the proposed site could reduce inmate transport and courtroom bottlenecks.

A motion to authorize the mayor to pursue engineering services for the proposed site was made by Commissioner David and approved on an electronic vote recorded as 18 yes and 0 no.

Next steps, as stated by the mayor, include inviting the consultant to a future work session to present detailed numbers and proceeding with core drilling and engineering as required for site preparation.