More discussion was held by the Marshall County Council Monday morning concerning two ordinances that coincide with the jail expansion project.
In a previous meeting, Phil Faccenda, Jr. from financial firm Barnes and Thornburg stated that the perimeters in the ordinance would allow for the bonds to be issued in an amount not to exceed $17,250,000 with a 20-year financing period. He said the LIT fund is expected to cover the debt service on the bonds.
The proposed jail expansion calls for a 41,000 square foot addition to the existing jail. It would add between 208 and 320 beds.
The second ordinance gives the council permission to spend the proceeds of the bonds toward the proposed jail expansion project.
In the end, the council voted 5-2 on the second reading on both of the ordinances. Council members Penny Lukenbill, Jack Roose, Jon VanVactor, Judy Stone and James Masterson voted in favor of both ordinances while Mandy Campbell and Heath Thornton voted against the ordinance. The third and final reading will be considered during the council’s next meeting on Feb. 10.
The vote came following comments made by all county council members.
Councilman Heath Thornton said that there are things that the county can do differently. He wants to see how the fourth court will help if it’s implemented.
“I just think there’s other things that we could do so we don’t have to go through a full $20 million expansion,” said Thornton.
Councilwoman Mandy Campbell said she was on the phone for about 6 hours on Sunday answering phone calls from constituents who are asking the council members to rethink the jail expansion project.
“They asked could I please express that they would like more time or a longer time frame to look into the alternatives that are in place,” commented Campbell.
Councilwoman Penny Lukenbill said she hasn’t heard from any constituents, but commented that while there are programs available to inmates, there isn’t room.
“I guess that’s maybe one of the things I’m looking at too is that an expanded jail facility would allow for a lot of those programs to be put into place and to be a little more effective, if you will,” Lukenbill remarked.
Councilman Jon VanVactor commented that the sheriff’s department, community corrections, probation, and the prosecutor are doing what they can to limit the number of people in the jail.
“Understand that we can’t control when an individual makes a choice to go out and commit a crime,” said VanVactor. “We can’t control how many people are going to be in our jail.”
Councilman James Masterson is concerned about the safety of the staff.
“If we have to have housing, we have to have housing,” commented Masterson. “Obviously, I’m not one that just wants to throw away $20 million, but if I have a family member that has had problems as a result of one of those inmates, I think I would look at that totally differently.”
Council President Judy Stone said she’s spent the past year attending meetings with all involved who she said are doing their best to protect the citizens of Marshall County.
“It’s not something I want to do, but to me it’s something that’s needed to protect the people of Marshall County,” stated Stone.
Councilman Jack Roose echoed the rest of the county council’s statement of not wanting to spend millions of dollars to expand the jail.
“…but if we don’t show that we are making progress and trying to something, we can always expect the state to come in and say ‘okay, because of the lawsuits and such that you have we’ll build you a jail and you can figure out how to pay for it’,” said Roose.
The American Civil Liberties Union lawsuits number about 17 while the number of pro se lawsuits has risen to 18.
Marshall County Sheriff Matt Hassel told the council Monday morning that he reached out to Scott County to see if they could house a few prisoners there to help alleviate the overcrowding issue. He mentioned that he’d call all over the state to house prisoners elsewhere until the overcrowding issue is resolved.
Councilman Masterson then asked Sheriff Hassel if the county would still need to pay to house inmates elsewhere if the housing issue is not resolved to which the sheriff confirmed that to be the case.
The commissioners will likely talk more about the project in an upcoming meeting.
