SPRINGDALE — The state prison system’s work release program in Springdale will be expanding to the old armory.
The board of the Arkansas Department of Correction unanimously approved a lease Tuesday for the armory building. The use of the armory will allow expansion of the work release program from 42 to about 100 people, said Dina Tyler, department assistant director.
At A Glance
The Springdale Armory
The National Guard built the Springdale armory on property donated by the Springdale Industrial and Agricultural Foundation. Construction began in 1946 and was finished in 1947. The armory was turned over to the city Nov. 16, Morgan said. The National Guard and Army Reserve opened a $22 million, 105,825-square-foot building in Bentonville for units from Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.
Source: Staff Report
“There are jobs in Springdale,” Tyler said. “A lot of these jobs are ones the employer has trouble filling. The program gives the employer a stable work force that will show up.”
The armory consists of two buildings on 1.6 acres at 600 W. Sunset Ave. The lease commits the department to spending up to $1 million to renovate an 8,000-square-foot building as living quarters and an 1,800-square-foot building for a visitor center.
The 25-year lease will cost the department $1 per year. The city will benefit by receiving more workers from the program, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration.
The program now houses its participants in the Springdale city jail. In return, the program provides five workers who clean city buildings, including administration, the airport terminal, the fire station, the police Criminal Investigation Division and the Information Technology building, he said.
The new lease states four additional workers will be committed to the city. They can be used to clean the city’s trails and at the city animal shelter, Morgan said.
The program will continue to provide three meals a day for the inmates of the city jail who are not part of the work release program, according to the lease.
Changes in the Police Department created by moving the program will have to be worked out, said Kathy O’Kelley, Springdale police chief.
“We’ll have to look at staffing,” O’Kelley said. “We’ve had an officer from the program overseeing their workers. Now those offices won’t be next door.”
The change will also free up space in the jail, but adding more city prisoners will be tough with the number of jailers proposed in the 2013 budget, O’Kelley said.
The work release prisoners usually don’t need much oversight, Tyler said.
“These people are only a few months from going home,” Tyler said. “Work release is a privilege. If they don’t behave, that privilege can be lost and they’ll be sent back to prison.”
Only a few have walked away from the work release program, Tyler said. That possibility is a concern for the neighborhood, said Cynthia Zambrano, whose house backs up to the armory.
“We’ve got a small child,” Zambrano said. “We would, worry but it wouldn’t be too bad if there is security.”
May Vang, an owner of Oriental Market next door to the armory, said she wouldn’t worry too much since the program participants will be gone during the day.
“We’re a business and we wouldn’t want any customers scared away,” Vang said.
The armory will not have bars and razor-wire fences, Morgan said. The existing fence will probably be replaced with a similar one.
“The city will pave the parking lot,” Morgan said. “It should look nicer than it does now.