DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL JAIL EXPANSION MEETING November 26, 2012 6:00 p.m., Commissioners Room County Administration Building 215 B West High Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana EXECUTIVE SESSION – 5:30 p.m. - Pending Litigation Present: Jeff Hughes, Shane McHenry, Tom Orschell, Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Andrew Baudendistel, County Attorney, Teresa Randall, County Administrator. CALL TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Executive Session finding: Shane McHenry made a motion to give the County Administrator and the County Attorney direction to sit down and see what can be worked out and to respond in a timely manner. Tom Orschell seconded. Motion carried. JAIL EXPANSION PROJECT – Terri Randall, County Administrator, Recommend a design, and recommend a $$ amount to request from Council. (Presentation in the Jail Addition file in the Auditor’s Office) Terri’s power point Commissioners are responsible to make sure they have what the County needs to house the inmate population. Council is responsible to decide at what level to fund the project. Integrus Architecture – Scott Moore – evaluation. (Presentation in the Jail Addition file in the Auditor’s Office) Key finding summary: He suggests that the Dearborn County Commissioners recommend construction of the 208 bed Jail Addition option. He sees the population being at 300 the day it opens. He would also recommend that Dearborn County establish a committee to examine the inmate population on a monthly basis after the Jail Addition is complete. This will make the key players aware of the inmate growth as it occurs. Rosser – Mark Van Allen – Rosser established a need, met with the Jail committee and conducted brainstorming session for flexible options. They started at 120 beds with room for expansion. The committee looked at increased bed count to 144 with shell for expansion and more flexibility. This design dedicates new space for JCAP class rooms and step down units. There is also space allocated for video arraignment. This is where the Jail committee has settled and so he recommends to the Commissioners 144 beds at $10.4 Million. Maxwell Construction - Brad Rullman – Project manager with Maxwell construction. He reviewed the costs. 120 beds $9.3 Million, 144 beds $10.4 Million, 208 beds $11.2 Million. Shane McHenry made a motion to open public comment. Tom Orschell seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Richard Johnston asked about the needed space per prisoner? Answer: ACA standards 80 square feet per prisoner. He wondered if the Commissioners could speculate $$ of operational costs? Tom stated “staff neutral” upon opening. An independent study could be done on utility costs. Judy Howard would like to clarify costs and the impact to the River Boat Savings Account. Jill Rhodes would like to know what the arrangements will be for the new Commissioners to get the information presented tonight. They will need that information to move forward. Tom Orschell shared the timeline of the progress of the project since the beginning of his term. He also shared the results of his research on Dearborn County’s drug abuse problems. In his research he feels that there is a responsibility to provide a good, safe working environment. Kevin Lynch spoke about the information provided to him and thanked everyone involved for taking the time to provide him with all of the information. He feels that there is a need for this Jail project, it’s a lot of money to spend and it needs to be done right. He likes the committee recommendation of 144 beds and the flexibility to expand out.
Andy Baudendistel stated that Dearborn County is in the forefront of trying to stop substance abuse. Dearborn County has the programs in place to stop the young opiate abusers. He likes the opportunities to expand the drug court programs. He feels that Dearborn County is doing everything they can with their programs to rehabilitate the drug offenders and get them back on track to be a productive member of society. Chris Mueller spoke about the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center Fact Sheet. The number of bookings decreased but the daily population has increased. Why? Andy Baudendistel stated that he had looked into that and had written a paper on the subject in law school. When Superior Court Judge Witte was here Andy noticed that anyone who was summoned into Court for an initial hearing (rather than being brought over from the jail) was still required to go through the jail to be booked and then brought over. The three Judges here now do not require that. Chris has noticed that there is no data available on the JCAP programs. Is there success or not? She would like to see more data provided to the taxpayers and she feels that this is not done. Chris would like to see a stop gap on the shell expansion. In her opinion the home incarceration is less expensive. Shane stated the program is newer and that conclusions cannot be made yet. A motion was made by Shane McHenry to Close Public Hearing. This motion was seconded by Tom Orschell. Motion passed unanimously. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Shane McHenry thinks that the 120 bed option is a band aid and you don’t put a band aid on a problem. He agrees with the committee report at 144 beds. He does not want to see the shell fill but he thinks that it is fiscally responsible to be prepared. He is proud that the committee has done all the research and taken the time to look at everything. Shane McHenry made a motion that we recommend the 144 bed with shell for expansion to County Council for the $9,740,231.00. Tom Orschell commented that at the 11/7 meeting he was not very comfortable weighing in but since he has heard what Kevin Lynch had to say he seconds that motion. Jeff Hughes votes NAY. Motion carried.
With no further business before the Board Shane McHenry moved to adjourn at 7:53 p.m. Tom Orschell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
_____________________________ President, Jeff Hughes
_____________________________ Shane McHenry Attest: _____________________________ Tom Orschell ________________________________ Gayle L. Pennington, Auditor