GREENFIELD — Hancock County officials have a better idea on the design and cost of a new jail outside the city limits, eight months after residents turned down a plan to build a facility downtown.
The 440-bed jail could cost about $35 million in construction costs and fees, with an additional $3.25 million to install utility infrastructure and prepare the acreage for use, representatives from the Indianapolis-based engineering firm RQAW told the Hancock County Commissioners this week.
Dustin Frye, director of construction for RQAW, said the design was one of five options narrowed down by officials over the past few weeks. He said the two-story jail would provide the number of beds — split between 304 dormitory-style beds and 136 cells — the county anticipates needing.
A new jail for Hancock County is slated to be at built in the far northwest corner of the county farm, along U.S. 40 between County Roads 400E and 500E.
The proposal includes 1½ operational jail pods with space between them for a kitchen, laundry facilities, a medical office, intake, 22 padded cells and multipurpose classrooms, Frye said. The second-floor mezzanine is designed to have cells and dorm beds overlooking the ground floor. Half of one of the pods and part of the second floor would get “shelled” for future use, when the county has funds available to add on.
Frye said the supply water to the county farm facility hasn’t yet been determined; it could come from the Greenfield Water Utility, digging wells on site or another avenue. RQAW also suggested building a wastewater package plant on site and bringing electric, storm sewer, gas, phone/fiber conduit and street lighting along a road leading north from U.S. 40 to the building.
Construction of the jail could start as early as this summer, and the facility could open in late 2021, said John Jessup, president of the board of commissioners.
The $35 million plan — which will be paid through an income tax hike — initially comes in lower than a $55 proposal to build a downtown jail, which failed as a property tax referendum last May. But the new proposal doesn’t include improvements to other county offices or the addition of a sheriff’s department building on site.
The past plan proposed moving the probation department from the courthouse into the existing sheriff’s administrative offices. Community corrections would shift over to the inmate-housing side of the current jail, and the prosecutor’s office would go into the existing community corrections building.
The jail design announced on Tuesday also doesn’t include an option to advance construction on part of one of the jail pods for temporary relief of overcrowding at the current jail. RQAW proposed that plan a few months ago, and it called for temporary housing for about 160 inmates while the rest of the jail was getting completed.
Jessup said the discussion to fast-track part of the jail within a year’s time is off the table after issues expressed about keeping to construction bidding timelines and the added costs in running two jails, one downtown and the other at the county farm.
“I think the consensus now is pick what we’re building and build it as fast as we can and just move forward that way,” Jessup said.
The current Hancock County Jail, a 157-bed facility, had 200 inmates on Tuesday morning, and an additional 70 offenders are being housed in other Indiana counties, said Sheriff Brad Burkhart. He’s frustrated of having to wait another two or more years with an overcrowded county jail.
“It’s not ideal. I appreciate the fact they’re trying to move forward, but I knew this was going to happen,” Burkhart said about not having temporary relief.
Last summer, Burkhart asked county officials for temporary relief for the jail, saying he knew of a company that could build within six months a secure space using semi trailers. County leaders disagreed about the plan for months, on how to pay for it and where to put it, until RQAW proposed its own temporary option. The county commissioners then paid the firm $500,000 to study the county farm and design a facility.
“Now we’re going to be jammed up for another two years,” he said.
Burkhart also said he intends to group recovery programs at the new jail in multiple dormitory blocks, containing those programs in one pod. The other side of the jail, he said, might contain inmates who are booked for more serious offenses in cells.
The commissioners on Tuesday also voted to establish a jail study committee — composed of Jessup, Burkhart, two council representatives, the jail commander and a judge — to review RQAW’s plan and see what could be trimmed from the design to lower costs and best meet county needs.