Morrow County commissioners seek state help as jail project shows $1.5 million shortfall
March 04, 2026 | Morrow County, Ohio
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Morrow County commissioners said a planned jail project is facing a significant funding gap and scheduled a meeting with architects and design consultants to narrow options and costs.
The chair (identified in the record as the meeting chair) told commissioners he had asked the project architect, Doug Moody, and DLZ representative Kyle to meet next Tuesday to review the bid drawings and an alternative design so the county can “pick and choose the pieces of it to move forward with,” and to clarify hard and soft costs. "So when I reviewed my numbers again, there's a note that shows the hard cost being $7,000,000 for the alternative design...and so with that, they're still allocating 1,000,000 dollars soft cost. That's $8,000,000," the chair said, reporting the updated figures.
The chair said that figure leaves the county approximately $1.5 million short of prior expectations. He also reported outreach to State Representative McClain to ask whether supplemental funding could be pursued and said other state-level requests for jail funding had been filed by statewide associations. “I've also reached out to state representative McClain to see if there's any indication on, if he can take a phone call,” the chair said. He asked commissioners and local partners to advocate for gap funding and noted the county would compete with other local projects for capital dollars.
Why it matters: The county will need to resolve the shortfall or modify the project design before proceeding with procurement and construction. Commissioners said the upcoming meeting with the architect and DLZ will produce drawings showing both the bid design and a proposed alternative to guide decisions on scope and cost.
The chair said the next procedural step is the architects' meeting next Tuesday; commissioners may return to consider revised estimates and funding options after that discussion. No formal funding commitment from the state was reported during the meeting.
The chair (identified in the record as the meeting chair) told commissioners he had asked the project architect, Doug Moody, and DLZ representative Kyle to meet next Tuesday to review the bid drawings and an alternative design so the county can “pick and choose the pieces of it to move forward with,” and to clarify hard and soft costs. "So when I reviewed my numbers again, there's a note that shows the hard cost being $7,000,000 for the alternative design...and so with that, they're still allocating 1,000,000 dollars soft cost. That's $8,000,000," the chair said, reporting the updated figures.
The chair said that figure leaves the county approximately $1.5 million short of prior expectations. He also reported outreach to State Representative McClain to ask whether supplemental funding could be pursued and said other state-level requests for jail funding had been filed by statewide associations. “I've also reached out to state representative McClain to see if there's any indication on, if he can take a phone call,” the chair said. He asked commissioners and local partners to advocate for gap funding and noted the county would compete with other local projects for capital dollars.
Why it matters: The county will need to resolve the shortfall or modify the project design before proceeding with procurement and construction. Commissioners said the upcoming meeting with the architect and DLZ will produce drawings showing both the bid design and a proposed alternative to guide decisions on scope and cost.
The chair said the next procedural step is the architects' meeting next Tuesday; commissioners may return to consider revised estimates and funding options after that discussion. No formal funding commitment from the state was reported during the meeting.
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