After considering an option to
expand the current Loudon County Justice Center site and
break the project into phases to help lower costs, the
Corrections Partnership Committee ultimately plans to
recommend a move to the Centre 75 Business Park for the
jail, Loudon County Sheriff’s Office and courtroom
facilities.
Sheriff Tim Guider motioned to approve the recommendation, which was followed by a second from General Sessions Court and Circuit Court Clerk Lisa Niles. The committee unanimously approved the plan to utilize the new site.
Earlier this year,
committee members began thinking about the Centre 75
property as a potential location for the new jail
instead of expanding the existing Justice Center. Loudon
City Council members who attended a committee meeting in
April gave their blessing to the standalone location.
Members have considered a
facility complex similar to one in Monroe County, which
cost about $31 million.
“Yeah, it’s a big pill to
swallow, I’m well aware of that,” Guider said. “And I
don’t know the amount of pennies that (Loudon County
Finance Director) Tracy Blair — she seems to think in
certain ways in phases that it’s not going to be such a
huge burden as all of us may think, but that’s yet to be
seen. ... I feel like we need a jail that we can work in
and where employees can be safer. That’s my concern.”
In previous meetings, the
jail panel considered multiple options for either
renovating the current Justice Center or constructing a
standalone facility.
During the most recent
meeting, committee members reviewed a new plan presented
by Michael Brady Inc. and Treanor Architects for a
275-bed jail that would have cost an estimated $25
million, and the project would have been divided into
phases over a number of years. According to estimates
from Michael Brady Inc., phase one would cost about
$17.9 million and take three years to complete. Included
in the cost is the relocation of the rescue squad.
Phase two, estimated at
$7.7 million, would include construction of an
additional courtroom, and if needed, a phase three
option was available for county officials to add two
extra courtrooms for about $3.9 million.
Loudon County Finance
Director Tracy Blair estimated the proposed first phase
of that option could be done with a property tax
increase as low as 2-3 pennies or as high as 8-9
pennies, depending on how the debt was structured. For
about $25 million, the project could be done for a low
of 5-6 pennies up to 10-12 pennies.
In a previous interview,
Commissioner Van Shaver said the county might have to
consider a 15- to 20-cent tax increase to cover a jail
project costing $31 million.
“It would have been nice to
have — I mean, it wasn’t like they should have been
there, but it would have been nice for some of the other
commissioners to have been in there and heard the
information that was shared yesterday, even by the
(Tennessee Corrections Institute) assistant director,
some of the things he said,” Guider said. “I think it’s
important that the commissioners know everything, know
exactly what we’re up against and what the ramifications
could be.”
Guider said the new option
was structured as a “piecemeal” approach for the county,
and moving forward with a new facility could potentially
improve efficiency and lessen the amount of staff
needed. Expanding the current facility could increase
recurring expenditures by $500,000 for more officers, he
said.
Loudon County Jail was
decertified earlier this month.
“You need to do something
with that facility, and, once again, I’ve heard talks
about courts and offices and all these types of things,”
TCI Deputy Director William Wall said during the
meeting. “That’s out of our purview. You’re decertified
for the jail and the jail alone. ... You don’t want to
spend money, I get that, but pay me now or pay me later.
That’s kind of what’s going to end up happening.”
Loudon County will not be
up for inspection until next year’s cycle, he said.
Officials can petition for re-inspection before then.
Wall said he was concerned
with the lack of classification for inmates.
“Here’s my biggest concern,
that you have inmates in the same housing areas as other
inmates, predators and prey possibly together, that if
anything happens, you knew they shouldn’t be together,
you try to classify them the best you could. However
you’ve made no movement to correct the overcrowding in
the jail,” Wall said. “Therefore, when someone is
considered prey and a predator gets a hold of them ...
big problem, big money if you’re held to be liable for
that action.”
Officials with LCSO and the
Ninth Judicial District Attorney General’s office
presented plans to the full commission last month.
Commissioners instructed the jail committee to come back
with a single recommendation for the county’s approval.
County Mayor Rollen “Buddy”
Bradshaw said he believes commission will discuss the
jail either in August or September.
“I think we’re still a
little bit away from getting everything hammered out to
where we’re ready to put out a presentation,” Bradshaw
said.
Although jail committee
members spoke extensively about numerous options that
have been on the table in recent weeks and months, they
considered few details about the $31 million Centre 75
project before passing along the recommendation to
Loudon County Commission.
“We were at a point
yesterday where even if we added onto the building, I
think you would agree, with the phases it was still
going to be $25 million-plus to stay where we are, from
what I was figuring,” Guider said. “So, why not go to a
new location to where you will have even for a
generation or two to come after that you’ll have space?
“Right now, if we add on
again that’s it,” Guider added. “I mean, and it’s just
as we say, you Band-Aid something and the Band-Aid is —
that’s just what it is, a Band-Aid. It’s not going to
heal. It’s just a temporary fix it seems like. I’m not
wanting anything more than what’s needed.”