Vigo County Commissioners appeared at Tuesday’s County Council meeting to advance their plans for a new Community Corrections Building on the grounds of the new jail.
Commissioners presented design plans for what the building would include across four separate wings. Garmong Construction has set a $41 million budget for the 16-month project that would provide a total of 250 beds for both men and women.
The facility would have an administration wing, a separate wing closed off from the rest of the building for drug testing and another wing for probationers. The largest wing — with almost twice as much square footage as the other three wings combined — would be for separate intakes and pods for men and women. Those areas would not resemble traditional incarceration locations in order to provide those staying there with a more positive setting while they undergo rehabilitation.
Before advancing to that step, however, Commissioners Chris Switzer and Mark Clinkenbeard appeared before the Council to request $896,355.64 for work done to this point, including the design work on the facility executed by RQAW DCCM.
The money would come from the Local Income Tax Correctional Rehab Facilities budget. That is set aside for only correctional and rehabilitation purposes.
Councilman Randy Gentry told the Commissioners, “It’s a real shocker to ask for nearly $1 million … for nice drawings.”
Councilwoman Vicki Weger said that given how overcrowded the Vigo County jail is, “This is not wasting money. … We have invested in our community and hope to do more.”
Tuesday’s meeting was a sunshine meeting, so no votes were taken. The appropriation will be voted on Oct. 14.
The county and the schools
Before considering resolutions and appropriations, however, Councilman Steve Ellis issued a message under the time set aside for elected officials communications.
He referred to a Facebook video he posted on his Holding Vigo County Accountable Facebook page, which said that the Vigo County School Corporation’s reconsolidation plan could cost up to $750 million when finally completed — primarily from construction and remodeling buildings, including building a new school from the ground up.
Ellis chastised the VCSC for “a lack of transparency.”
The councilman proposes an ordinance to say the County Council would not vote on any measure involving money for building or remodeling schools or acquiring land to build schools upon until the community has been allowed to vote on such a plan.
Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun and the Chamber of Commerce had previously endorsed the school consolidation plans.
Ellis said he’d have more details Oct. 14.
In other business, Great Dane requested that the deadline for accomplishing its promises made to receive a tax abatement be amended to extend the deadline from Dec. 31, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2027. Phase 1 in the three-phase project has been completed, but work had just begun on Phase 2 in the form of ordering equipment.
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