About a week after visiting jails in Anderson and Roane counties, Loudon County Corrections Partnership Committee members met Wednesday at the Justice Center to discuss their trip, the potential for visiting other facilities in the future and setting up a meeting to choose a civil engineer for a feasibility study on renovations and upgrades to the current property.
Loudon County Commissioner Leo Bradshaw, who also serves as vice chairman on the jail committee, said a site visit Thursday to the Justice Center will be required for all civil engineer firms interested in conducting the property’s feasibility study.
Shortly after the site visit, bids will open up at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 11, at the County Office building, Bradshaw said. Committee members will meet the next day at 12:30 p.m. in the county purchasing office to review bids and make a decision on which civil engineer to approve for the feasibility study.
“After we have the budget for the amount of money that’s going to be charged by the civil engineer, we’re going to have to go before capital projects (committee) and then County Commission to get funded before we can actually get the stuff started,” Bradshaw told committee members.
Ninth Judicial District Attorney General Russ Johnson, who serves as chairman of the jail committee, said the feasibility report will allow the committee to have a better understanding of the next plan of action.
“It seems to be the political public sentiment would be to build on this property if we can ... if it’s feasible, and that’s why we’re getting this study,” Johnson said. “If it’s feasible, then I think we may be limited in what we can do if we’re dedicated to this property, and if we’re not, then I think it opens it up for more possibilities, but that’s just my way of thinking.”
Members also discussed the trip some members of the committee took last week to jails in Anderson and Roane counties. Overall, committee members agreed Anderson County’s jail appeared to be more in line with a project that may be feasible in Loudon.
“They’re (Roane County) within 200 yards of the courthouse, but they might as well be 2 1/2 miles like Anderson County is because you still have to load them up, sally port, move them in and out,” Johnson said. “One of the good things about Anderson, they had a full sally port. Roane County doesn’t, where you just pull in and pull out at the other side.
“That was something that was emphasized to us, to have an adequate medical space, having enough room for females being able to classify your females on different levels, classify everyone else on different levels,” he added.
Sheriff Tim Guider had few positive comments on Roane County’s jail.
“I just can’t say anything good except — on the Roane County (jail) — but I know that they were very pleased or happy to be able to (move) into what they had when they did get moved six years ago,” Guider said. “Quickly it filled up, and it’s just, I don’t — no prisoner flow, nothing good about it. I was impressed with Anderson County though.”
Lt. Jake Keener, Loudon County Jail administrator, said visits to other facilities can be used as a token of encouragement knowing a jail like Anderson County was constructed cheaper than what Moseley Architects proposed for the county in 2013. The facility in Anderson was constructed a couple years ago for about $9-$10 million.
Similarly, touring Roane County’s jail helped Loudon County officials determine what they don’t want from a new facility project, Keener said.
“When we see what they’ve done and how much money they’ve spent, it gives us something to work for knowing that we can do the same for less money than what our original proposal was,” Keener said after the meeting. “We’ve seen work they’ve done for $10, $12, $14 million. You know, some of our plans start off at $47 million, so I mean it certainly shows us ... that there is a way to make this happen.”
In November 2013, Moseley Architects presented three options to resolve inmate overcrowding. One option, priced at $47.3 million, included a new facility to house all law enforcement and court operations in one place, including a 278-bed jail holding 400 inmates. Another option, priced at $24 million, included the construction of a jail only, while the third option, which came in at $44 million, featured a new jail and courtroom space. The third option included leaving the Sheriff’s Office in the Justice Center.
Guider said Moseley Architects has offered to pay for travel expenses to Rockingham, N.C., so committee members could see a jail similar to that proposed for Loudon County.
Johnson asked Moseley Architects to provide operational costs, photographs and any other items deemed necessary to replace traveling. A visit to Jefferson County Jail will likely be scheduled, and driving to Fentress County could be an option as well if enough members are interested, Johnson said.
The next jail committee meeting is set for noon Aug. 19 in the Justice Center training room.
“Always learn from somebody else’s mistakes,” Henry Cullen, Loudon County Commissioner and jail committee member, said.
