The Greene County Jail expansion is on schedule for a March 2019 completion and is under budget.
Greene County Board of Commissioners member Ed Michael and Sheriff Mike Hasler provided an update on the project, which currently consists of the outer shell of the jail and some of the interior work at the County Road 70 East location in Bloomfield.
The Greene County Council and Board of Commissioners worked together last year when overcrowding in the jail became a concern. Sheriff Hasler explained previously the jail has an 86-bed capacity, but was intended for 68 inmates to allow room for issues with inmates. Last year, the jail was seeing numbers over 100 inmates and concerns were brought forth about potential lawsuits or a state-mandated change to the facility.
The expansion will add 288 beds and address the sheriff’s concerns about lack of meeting space.
Hasler said currently the jail is running in the mid-80s on daily inmate counts, but the male-to-female ratio has left some male inmates sleeping on “sled beds” due to a lack of space.
After much discussion between the governing entities, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in February this year, and Michael said currently all of the concrete has been poured, the walls of the building are going up and the roof is in the process of being completed. In the middle of September, the jail cell pods are expected to be delivered, which are built off-site in Georgia allowing the exterior work to be done simultaneously.
“These cells are very secure. They come in completely ready with the equipment already in place. All they have to do is hook everything up,” Michael said, adding, “We’ve come a long way in a short time.”
Michael and Hasler credited the fact most of the contractors worked together on a previous jail project with helping to save money.
“We have had a lot of change orders, but they are saving the county money,” Michael said. “The electrical contractor came up and offered a deduction on his bid because he found a cheaper way to do it. We went over the offer with the project manager and accepted.”
Hasler explained the project manager, Garmong, and several of the contractors worked together on the expansion at the Posey County Jail, which is similar to the Greene County Jail’s expansion.
“They worked a lot of the problems out, and that has saved us some money. The same will be true for the next county they work with. They will problem solve some of the issues here and be able to save some money in the future,” Hasler said.
Michael said Garmong has been a “tremendous help” and having Project Manager Mark Ross on-site every day has helped the process go smooth.
“Mark is here every day and has done several projects like these. He catches things ahead of time and tries to keep everything on scheduled,” Michael said, adding his expertise has helped save money along the way as well.
One of those areas he has helped with has been the lack of masons available, which is a statewide issue.
“It’s because there is so much building throughout the state right now,” Hasler noted.
Other than the shortage of workers for one of the contractors, they said there have only been minor issues like the wrong-sized pieces for the skylights and a cramped parking area.
Once the expansion is complete, which is expected in March of 2019, the inmates will be moved over to the new facility and upgrades will be done at the existing jail facility.
Michael explained this saves the county money as well.
“By doing it this way, we are not paying another county to house inmates. It saves us money that way,” Michael said.