Posted: 7/12/05
Planning for new jail gearing up
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Planning for the new Houston County jail ñ or what is officially known as the criminal justice center ñ got underway in earnest last week.
Jail programmer David Prachar spent most of July 7 visiting with various county officials about the project.
He also updated the criminal justice planning committee and several department heads in the cramped conference room in back of the courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse.
Getting staff input was one of his main points at the 90-minute meeting. ìItís important to start talking to your people now,î Prachar said.
For example, the sheriffís department staff needs to decide who should be held in the new jail, what classification systems they should use, and whether they should have a full-service kitchen. The jail will be the costliest and most complex part of the new law enforcement center, Prachar said.
He recommended starting with 40 cells for housing prisoners, excluding intake areas. Each cell could accommodate double bunks, so the jail would contain 70-75 beds. It could also be designed to have a second story if growth would dictate that, Prachar said.
The new building will also hold the sheriffís office, county attorney, court administrator, court services/probation, and victim services.
Several county workers told Prachar about inadequacies in the present courthouse related to those and other spaces.
There arenít adequate meeting rooms for people in human services and public health, personnel director Tim Comstock said.
County attorney Rick Jackson said his office is cramped too. Sometimes there are multiple defense attorneys meeting with their clients, and there is only one spot to do that, he said.
Jury trials now are a painful experience, court administrator Darlene Larson said. ìA nightmare,î she added after a pause.
Retrofitting the present courthouse could be done as part of the new criminal justice center, Prachar said.
Prachar told the committee that he will return in August to gather feedback from law enforcement officials. Houston County Jail Administrator Mark Schiltz is serving as the project manager.
Committee member Earl Welch suggested having one architect to handle the entire project. ìThe flow of work would be better,î he said.
ìItís logical to have the same firm go through it,î Prachar said. But sometimes you wonít want that firm to do the entire project, Prachar added.
He said that phase one would be done at a set price, and a cheap one, because it could lead to a bigger contract for the firm chosen to do phase two.
The cost of the project was not discussed. No referendum will be required.
Prachar, who is from Duluth, was hired on a by the county last month to serve as programmer. He is being paid $2,500 per month on a 12 month contract. The county has the option to renew the contract on a monthly basis.
Two phases to the project
Prachar gave the following summary of the two phases of the project:
Phase one is generally referred to as ìconceptual design.î During this phase we define what will be needed in the law enforcement area, courts and jail Ýin terms of types and sizes of rooms, functions and operations. We want the design to reflect the way the county wants to operate these functions. From this we get a ìpreliminaryî facility size and based upon the different site issues, we can get a ìpreliminaryî cost or range of cost. From this point, the county decides if we go forward, scale down the project or not go forward at all.
Phase two: This requires county approval to go forward. During this phase we bring on an architect and possibly a construction management firm. We analyze sites, develop more refined plans which in turn refines the cost. We continue down this path with more and more refinement until the county is satisfied that all of its requirements are met. Then there is a decision to actually finance the project, final site selection, and go out to bids.
Where and when will the new jail be built?
There are no clear answers to those two key questions quite yet.
Jail programmer David Prachar said where the building goes will depend on the scope of the project, which is something that he and county employees will be working on in the coming months.
Prachar feels the planners should design the building first, then find a place to put it. He equated it to someone designing a house, then finding a parcel of land to put it on.
For now, people should be cautious about throwing around numbers like costs and square footage. ìItís really just a shot,î Prachar said.
Finding the right location can be a challenge, he cautioned. Prachar helped plan a criminal justice center in St. Louis County that had 32 potential sites.
ìNIMBY came up,î he said. ìNot in my back yard.î
No matter where it goes, Prachar said the new criminal justice center will be a sign of growth and improvement over the current jail, which is 123 years old. ìItís done its thing, above and beyond,î Prachar said to the grins of people on the criminal justice committee on July 6. ìItís done its time.î
When will it be built had a bit more definitive answer. Prachar predicted that soil borings could be done this fall before freeze up, and construction could start next summer. He figured the work would take about a year, meaning Houston County could have a new jail by 2007.
ìIt depends on how well we do on this up front stuff,î Prachar said.
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