Manza: “It’s ot too late”
Chaboty: “… irresponsible”
MONTICELLO – The bid deadline for the new Sullivan County Jail has been extended, once again, to August 24, next Wednesday. County Manager Joshua Potosek broke that news during Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting.
Later, during the regular monthly legislature session, several residents continued to outline their concerns during public comment.
Among them, Tom Manza who has been speaking out on the lingering jail deliberations for many years. Manza argued that at this point, waiting a bit longer to rethink the project can’t hurt.
“It’s not too late,” Manza said. “There’s no bulldozers in there to clear a site. There’s nothing going on. You have a tax cap which is very unpopular to override. I went on Facebook and I just looked, shook my head at the hundreds of comments of our citizens that are very angry that this tax cap is going to be overridden. Very angry about people losing their homes; people having to move to the Carolinas.”
Others who spoke urged rethinking the concept of corrections, with more emphasis on alternatives to incarceration.
Undersheriff Eric Chaboty was prepared for what came down, with a prepared statement.
“As reported in the news media, there has been a petition drive to stop the jail project,” Chaboty said. “I have heard several reports that the organizers of this petition drive are going door-to-door, with an emphasis on senior citizens, and are spreading misinformation intended to cause fear and alarm among our residents. These actions are not only unfortunate, but they’re also irresponsible.”
The undersheriff said the current and previous county legislatures have looked at all options and concluded the present course, a new jail, is the prudent path.
Chaboty recited a long list of statistics now familiar to all of have followed the saga, including how if the jail had been built in the early 1990s, it would have cost $30 million and the bond would have been paid off six years ago, in 2010. The current price tag is expected to be $95 million, depending on how the bids roll out.
