Board of Supervisors approve over $1 million for new jail pre-construction

At the Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, the Board greenlit a pre-construction expense of over $1.1 million, in addition to another $30,000 for the new jail to be built off Highway 80.

In June 2018, the prior board of supervisors purchased a 47-acre tract of land on U.S. Highway 80 for $400,000. This property, situated at 1134 Highway 80, once housed the Pinewood Motel, which had been abandoned since 1979. By 2019, the county had demolished the remaining structures and drained a pond located on the premises.

The comprehensive study conducted by the Voorhis/Robertson Justice Services Group from Denver, Colorado, in 2010, recommended the construction of a facility that could accommodate approximately 350 inmates. Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace previously stated to the Board this capacity would create sufficient space for housing misdemeanor and pretrial felony inmates, as well as state inmates eligible for community work programs. However, due to existing state statutes, inmates of these classifications can’t be confined together in the same section of a correctional facility.

On Mar. 9, the Board authorized Board President Kelle Barfield to sign a short-term note of $6.7 million. The funding was to cover preliminary costs associated with the design and construction of the new jail. The existing Warren County Jail is located on a plot near the courthouse with limited space for expansion. The upcoming project plans to adopt the latest standards in jail design and favor a horizontal layout.

On Tuesday, the Board moved forward with the approval of requisition 1 and 2 for applications 1 and 2 linked to the jail’s pre-construction, both addressed to White Construction. While the first requisition and application is set at $30,000, the second requisition and application comes in at a more substantial $1,158,227.34. Each vital to drawing up plans and moving forward with the construction.

The anticipated revenue for the upcoming fiscal year is projected at $47,761,379. This represents an increase of more than $1.7 million from the current fiscal year’s revenue of $45,998,607. This increased budget allocation will account for site preparation for the new jail as part of the county’s improvement expenses for the coming fiscal year.

The Board has also sanctioned an invoice from Neel-Schaffer Inc., amounting to $1,820, which covers offsite utilities for the new jail facility.

The agenda can be viewed below. The Board meeting can be viewed from our live stream.