MONTICELLO – Law enforcement officials,
including Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff and Jail Administrator
Harold Smith are stepping up their pressure to consolidate law enforcement
at a new county jail, if and when the county gets around to building it.
The legislature did approve an additional $299,000 in fees for architectural consultants LaBella Associates to include an administration office for the sheriff and a facility for the sheriff’s road patrol.
Schiff said this is a prudent move now because it will help them move forward with larger aspects of jail design.
“My understanding is this money is going to go toward them actually designing the road patrol, then we’ll see how much square footage that needs and try to get a handle on what the number would be,” the sheriff said.
That made sense to Republican Legislator Alan Sorenson.
“Now is the time to do it; you don’t want to do it after the fact,” said Sorensen.
Veteran Legislator Jonathan Rouis, a Democrat, who was around when they started looking seriously at building a jail, said there are some lessons to be learned from history.
“It was ripped apart because everybody was focusing on the pennies and the dollars were flying out the window.”
The legislature voted 8-0 to authorize the additional fees.
Democrat Cora Edwards, who left the meeting before the vote because of illness, questioned the need for spending almost $300,000.
“My understanding was that the previous legislature turned down a $250,000 proposal to renovate a building near the Apollo Mall for the Road Patrol and Civil Division,” Edwards recalled, in a statement issued Thursday evening. “Now we are facing a $290,000 proposal just for the design with an additional $5 million in construction in addition to the $64 million in new jail construction costs.”
