Work begins on temporary warehouse/jail facility

Work has begun to prepare the land for a temporary warehouse/jail facility to be constructed west of Interstate 84 near the Notus exit. Sewer and water lines are being laid, and county crews are prepping the ground, remodeling a building, and tearing down other buildings. This site was designated by the Community Advisory Group as the best location for a jail after many hours of meetings and site visits last summer and fall.

The metal warehouse structure is being funded by budgeted funds, and the cost of the entire project is estimated to come in at less than the $12 million budgeted. Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Andy Eveland says his crew is doing a majority of the work, in order to keep costs down. The temporary facility will be able to hold 200 inmates, and could be opened by fall.

This temporary jail will give Sheriff Smith and his detention staff some help with the critical jail facilities needs. The existing jail is in critical need of repairs, but in order for those repairs to happen, inmates need to be moved. Currently, there is no place to move all the inmates in one unit - about 100 inmates. The temporary jail will allow detention staff to move inmates from one unit to another facility, so county maintenance staff can work on repairing that unit. This is not a permanent solution, but does buy the county some time before a permanent structure must be built. Courthouse employees and elected officials recognize this critical need, and when they were asked to pare down their budgets so enough money could be made available for the temporary facility, the county departments were willing and able to do so.

"It's an extremely important step to put infrastructure into a place that could house our future jail facility. This is a temporary jail facility that is a warehouse which, once inmates are moved into a permanent facility at that location, will allow the county to be more efficient in our buying power," said Commission Chair David Ferdinand.