FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's justices of the peace on Thursday approved spending another $1 million for architectural and engineering work on a plan to expand the county's Detention Center.
The Quorum Court in August approved $250,000 from the county's American Rescue Plan funds for preliminary architectural and engineering work on a expansion meant to enhance the facility's ability to handle detainees during the covid-19 pandemic. At that time, according to the Sheriff's Office, there were 11 separate 24-person blocks being used to manage detainees in different stages of quarantine.
The proposal would add 232 beds and space for quarantining and isolating detainees for health reasons; for the intake, medical and courts areas; and storage and administrative purposes.
The proposed expansion would cost from $18 million to $20 million if construction is approved by the Quorum Court and take two to three years to complete. Some justices of the peace have proposed using some of Washington County's $46 million in American Rescue Plan money to pay for the expansion. Others have questioned whether a jail expansion would meet federal guidelines for the use of the money.
Last week, Sheriff Tim Helder proposed a still larger expansion.
Helder said the new expansion plan would add another housing pod to the jail in addition to the covid-related work. He said the Sheriff's Office has talked with representatives from Spirit Architecture and have been told a "ballpark" cost estimate is $50 million to $60 million. He said the funding mechanism of a sales tax to pay for construction would be essentially the same as the 2018 proposal, including a continuing sales tax for operating and maintenance costs.
The Sheriff's Office proposed an expansion of the jail in 2018, citing crowding as a continuing problem. The jail has a design capacity of 710 beds but is generally considered to be at capacity when about 80% of the beds are occupied due to a legal requirement for separating different detainee classifications.
Justices of the peace Shawndra Washington and Suki Highers asked if the $1 million is for the covid-related plan or the larger expansion plan.
"Are we saying we need the $1 million to keep the architectural plans going for the entire jail?" Washington asked.
"I too am struggling to understand," Highers said. "The $250,000 was for the covid-related work. Is this $1 million for the significantly different plan?"
Chief Deputy Jay Cantrell said the $1 million is for the covid-related expansion. Cantrell said the architects send the county monthly fee requests, and the county is about $500,000 in arrears on those. Cantrell said the $250,000 was "seed money" for the project, and the $1 million would pay for some work already done and more that is anticipated to be done through the summer.
Beth Coger of Fayetteville, justice of the peace-elect for District 9, said the county needs to reexamine it's priorities. Coger said the $1 million being spent on plans for an expansion would fund a pretrial probation program, a mental health court and a detox and sobering center, which would reduce the population of the jail and save the county money on operating costs.
"We know what we need to do," Coger said. "We just need to do that."
The justices of the peace voted 10-3 in favor of spending the $1 million on architectural and engineering work. Justices of the peace Washington, Highers and Eva Madison voted against spending the money.
Also Thursday, a resolution recognizing a number of Marshallese and Hispanic community organizations for their work during the covid-19 pandemic was withdrawn from consideration after it was proposed that two of the groups be removed and the others voted on separately.
Washington had introduced the resolution at the April Quorum Court meeting recognizing the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, Arkansas Immigrant Defense, Arkansas United, The Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas, The Marshallese Educational Initiative, and RootED Northwest Arkansas for their dedication and service to Washington County. The resolution was tabled after some justices of the peace said they wanted to see if there are other groups that should be included in the resolution. Other justices of the peace noted that one of the groups is involved in a federal court lawsuit against the county and said they could not vote for the resolution for that reason.
Justice of the Peace Lisa Ecke made a motion at Thursday's meeting to remove two of the groups -- Arkansas Immigrant Defense and Arkansas United. Ecke said Arkansas United is party to a lawsuit against the county and should not be recognized by the Quorum Court, and she had concerns about Arkansas Immigrant Defense based on comments from people involved with other nonprofit groups.
Washington withdrew her resolution without a vote after the Ecke's amendment was proposed. She said the organizations had gone far beyond their normal missions and their efforts had saved lives during the pandemic because of the trust they have built within the Marshallese and Hispanic communities.
"I would just hope the county can find some meaningful way to recognize these organizations," Washington said.
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NoneTax back program
The Washington County Quorum Court on Thursday approved a pair of resolutions certifying Kawneer Co. and United Parcel Service for participation in the state’s Consolidated Incentive or “tax back” program. The state program provides for sales tax rebates for companies that invest in machinery or equipment or sign job-creation agreements with the state.
Source: Arkansas Economic Development Commission