Early rendering of what the jail could look like
MONTICELLO – After talking about it for a quarter-century, Sullivan County lawmakers may be close to replacing their century-old county jail.
Design consultants updated legislators on Thursday, saying they are at the point that they can start preparing the final design and specs that would be put out to bid, possibly by late spring.
Mark Kukuvka, of LaBella Associates, told the legislature’s public Safety Committee today that their current estimate, which he described as a broad target, is $81 million. That is for the basic jail and would not include the sheriff and road patrol offices, which would be an optional add-on.
Kukuvka said what the county would get for that kind of money is a jail significantly downsized from what was originally considered.
“We worked very diligently with Sheriff’s office to see where we could downsize it and can get this 20,000 square feet out of this building,” Kukuvka said.
The result is bringing the square footage down from 154,000 to 134,000. That would be a jail with room for 256 inmates in single cells. The site, near Exit 104, would have room for expansion.
Legislator Kathy LaBuda, who chaired the committee meeting, said the
longer they delay, the more it will cost.
“Cannot wait any longer to build a jail that’s 100 years old,” LaBuda said. “It cost taxpayers money every single day. By delaying it these past four years, the price has now gone up again. We need to move forward sooner than later.”
LaBuda noted during the meeting that when they first started talking seriously about a jail, more than two decades ago, they could have built one for under $25 million, or less than a third of what they are facing now. And, it would have been paid for by now.
LaBuda takes notes as Kukuvka (2nd from right), other consultants, present their update
