BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Quorum Court voted Thursday to spend $30,000 for preliminary plans to expand the county jail.
Justice of the Peace Joel Edwards said the money will come out of capital funds. He hopes to have the plans by August.
Benton County Judge Barry Moehring said the plans will not be completed designs by an architect, but conceptual drawings that will allow justices of the peace to see how the expanded jail will look on the site.
"It won't win any design awards," Moehring said. "I can assure you."
Moehring expects to have the estimated cost of the project when the preliminary plans are complete.
Justices of the peace voted 15-0 to pay Hight Jackson Associates to complete the plans.
Sheriff Shawn Holloway has said the jail needs more space for the medical and kitchen areas. He said only one inmate at a time can be held and treated in the medical wing while the kitchen is set to feed 400 inmates, but the jail has held more than 800 inmates at times in the past year.
The jail needs more space for inmates to participate in religious or other activities that may help reduce recidivism, Holloway said. More beds are also needed to deal with the county's growing population, he said.
The jail is not holding any misdemeanor prisoners due to lack of space, and that's one situation that must be resolved, he said. He added the jail also needs a place to hold people with mental illness safely.
Holloway said if the Sheriff's Office adds 200 beds, it would cost $1.5 million annually.
In other news from Thursday's meeting, Moehring announced the Gooseberry Road bridge will be opened by mid- to late July.
The bridge has been closed for more than a year.
Floodwater damaged the bridge off Price Coffee Road northeast of Bentonville in May 2022. Price Coffee Road is a paved, two-lane road running east-west from its intersection with Arkansas 72 to its intersection with Slaughter Pen and East Ford Springs roads.
The old bridge was about 31 feet long and was built in 1982, county chief engineer Josh Beam said. The new bridge will be the same length.
Moehring said the bridge is a important north-south connector bridge that's also important to the biking community.
The justices of the peace also voted 14-1 to select Excellerate Foundation to administer the $2.4 million the county received as part of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The program, authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, provides $21.55 billion nationally to offer eligible households financial assistance, provide housing stability services, and as applicable, cover the costs for other affordable rental housing and eviction prevention activities.
The Excellerate Affordable Rental Housing Development is expected to bring affordable rental housing to an estimated 160 families in Benton County. It's estimated the project will take 30 to 36 months with a completion date of between June and December 2026, according to a county news release.
Rent will be set at $500-$750 below market rates with a structure to allow the units to remain affordable for 35 years, according to the release.
Justice of the Peace Joseph Bollinger was the lone vote against the measure. Bollinger said he voted against the measure because the federal government does not reauthorize eligibility for the program.
Bollinger said someone could start off in the program and years later be better off financially and still be in the affordable housing instead of someone else who could benefit from the program.