GREENFIELD — Building the next Hancock County Jail on a piece of county-owned farmland could cost between $60 million and $70 million, county officials and design firm representatives said on Tuesday.
That estimate, which was announced during a joint meeting of the Board of Commissioners and County Council, comes in higher than the original $55 million price tag for a new jail that the council chose to scrap after a referendum failed in May. It’s also more than the council’s recent cap for the project.
Last month, the county council suggested moving the jail’s proposed location from downtown Greenfield to 3 miles east of town on a plot of land known as the county farm along U.S. 40 between county roads 400E and 500E, costing no more than $30 million.
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According to RQAW, the Indianapolis-based firm that was hired to design the proposed downtown jail, it would cost between $24.3 million and $26.7 million to build two jail pods on the county farm that would house upwards of 500 inmates. But that price doesn’t include an intake area, administration offices, kitchen, laundry services or any other design soft costs, RQAW’s Pete Peterson said.
Peterson said the estimated cost of a facility with those additional services would range from $48.5 million to $53.4 million. Commissioner Marc Huber said the county would also have to pay for utilities, roads, parking lots and other necessary components for a “fully functioning” jail. Huber, along with commissioners Brad Armstrong and John Jessup estimated the project could cost up to $70 million.
“We started out with a $55 million solution that took care of the jail and several other departments and now we’re talking about a $60 (million) or $70 million solution that just takes care of the jail,” Huber said. “That gives me heartburn.”
The current 157-bed Hancock County Jail had 234 inmates as of Tuesday, said Maj. Brad Burkhart, the chief deputy of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. That doesn’t include 52 other offenders at other state facilities. On July 18, the jail housed a record-high 259 people, Burkhart added.
Having the jail 3 miles from downtown would also create logistical problems for transportation of inmates to court hearings as well as other criminal justice officials going to and from the jail campus, Huber said.
Before the council proposed building the jail on the county farm, the plan was to build the facility along Meek Street close to the community corrections building. That would’ve meant the county acquiring houses through eminent domain. The plan also included renovations to the existing jail and relocating other departments, such as the prosecutor’s office, community corrections and probation.
Huber said the plan the council and commissioners eventually agree upon should still address relocating departments and deal with space issues in county buildings instead of waiting to fix it years from now.
“We can’t kick that down the road because that needs to stay on the radar if this is the direction that everybody wants to head,” Huber said.
Councilwoman Jeannine Gray, however, said the county needs to focus solely on the new jail now and wait to reconfigure the other criminal justice departments. She likes the idea of building the jail at the county farm since it has more space than downtown to further expand the jail and the other departments.
“In my heart I think that whatever we do, we need to do what’s right for the taxpayers,” she added.
The council also wanted to move the jail out of downtown to fulfill the wishes of Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell. Armstrong said the commissioners and RQAW recently met with Fewell and presented an overview of the project. Armstrong said the mayor still doesn’t want the jail to remain in the city, but Armstrong hopes the county and city could come to some understanding on keeping a downtown facility.
But since the commissioners and council can’t come to an agreement on a downtown location, Armstrong said it’s in the best interest of the county to move forward on building the jail at the county farm, even if the price will be higher than anticipated.
“We need a proper facility,” Armstrong said. “We can’t have a temporary solution.”
Armstrong said the commissioners will work to create a master plan for the county farm location and obtain schematic designs for the jail. They’ll also figure out how to reuse the existing downtown jail and how many employees will be needed for jail transportation. It’s up the council to determine funding.
Councilman Jim Shelby and county attorney Ray Richardson said the county could use income tax to fund half of the project and pay for the other half from property taxes through a referendum on next year’s primary ballot. Armstrong said the county, however, wouldn’t be able to start on the project for a year or two if they wait for another referendum.
