 |
A joint Spokane/Kootenai County-run jail facility near Liberty Lake? It’s not out of the realm of possibility, according to Spokane County officials, but a lot of details would need to be worked out – and soon -- for it to happen.
A location on East Appleway is just one of 10 that have risen to the top of the latest “essential public facility” site list for a new corrections facility that will be needed by 2013.
Lt. Mike Sparber, who is heading up the process to get a new jail built, briefed Spokane County commissioners on Tuesday, saying a committee was in place to review the potential sites to be narrowed to three in late January. The commissioners will have the final choice on where the new jail will be built.
Under the EPF process, jurisdictions such as Liberty Lake or Spokane Valley, for example, do not have a say whether or not the facility can be constructed in their borders. The leadership of those cities, however, could negotiate certain conditions.
With last week’s failure of a bond vote in Kootenai County for a new corrections facility in North Idaho, there is potential for renewed discussions for a shared jail. But Spokane County commissioners remain dubious that the logistics of such a partnership could be worked before a new jail is needed.
This will be the second time around for the EPF review. The commissioners approved another go around in September after cost estimates – now over $265 million – made building a new corrections complex at the courthouse complex cost prohibitive.
Studies have shown that a new tower, related buildings and parking amenities at the site of the existing jail at the courthouse would run about $45 million more than building a “horizontal” campus on rural lands somewhere else.
To look more closely at that scenario, the commissioners authorized the new EPF process to move forward last September. The plan, currently, is to put a vote before the electorate next August to authorize bonds or some other funding formula for the new jail.
The current structure, built in 1986, is aging and above capacity. Additional correctional space at Geiger will be lost in two years when the county’s lease expires.
A 10-member committee will review several criteria to determine the top three sites, which have changed since the first EPF process two years ago. While that group is made up of law-enforcement professionals along with sheriff’s staff, three consultants – some architects who could benefit from a county-awarded contract – worry Board Chairman Todd Mielke.
“They can provide information,” Mielke said. “but just come up shy of a vote.”
Sparber, however, argued that the timeline is moving too fast to change the committee now.
“My recommendation is to push forward,” he said, saying that any requests for proposals would go to a wide variety of potential contractors, so there would be no guarantee that a committee member would even be considered.
Commissioners Bonnie Mager and Mark Richard agreed.
Mager also wanted a “tabletop” workshop meeting of affected law-enforcement and court personnel to see if they had any new input as to whether it made more sense to locate a new corrections center downtown or somewhere else. Such a meeting has already been scheduled for Feb. 3, but there was concern that would be too late to have any impact – especially if three sites have already been chosen.
Sparber said he would attempt to get the meeting moved forward, even if it meant all three commissioners were not present.
That didn’t sit well with Mielke, who argued the commissioners are the ones who will make the final choice.
“I don’t want to drive down some dead-end alley,” he said. “At the end of the day, the board is going to own the decision.”
The commissioners were also reluctant to hire a public relations consultant to broker information on the new jail, saying a community survey might make more sense.
“I’d rather spend $10 grand on a survey than $50 grand on a consultant,” Richard said.
|
|
By
Mike Huffman
