Jail foundations taking shape
Published 10:09 am Thursday, May 28, 2009
Though it may not have looked it on a soggy, sloppy Wednesday, construction of the new Mower County Jail and Justice Center is moving right along.
The roughly $29 million project, which has received some criticism in Austin concerning the price tag and the number of new jail beds, is scheduled for completion in July 2010. For now, strides have been made in getting footings and foundations in place as the building’s skeleton begins to take shape, including some of the cells’ inner walls.
Construction will also soon begin on underground geothermal heating, a project that should last all summer, and on other underground work, such as plumbing and utilities. Or as project manager for Knutson Construction Services John Pristash called it, the building’s “guts.”
This work won’t be highly visible to passers-by — that stage will come in early July as some of the building’s main walls begin to take shape. Pristash said the project overall is on schedule.
Criticism of the ever-developing jail and justice center came to a head in March, when two men submitted a petition with more than 900 signatures calling for bonding of the project to be put to a vote via referendum. The two, Tony Bennett and Dan Vermilyea, have not been granted a hearing, nor is the issue scheduled to appear as a referendum, as county commissioners and the attorney’s office have decided that by law neither is required.
On Wednesday, Mower County coordinator Craig Oscarson reiterated why the board felt the project was necessary for downtown Austin.
“It makes a nice fit in the government sector,” he said.
Oscarson added that the current jail is outdated and too small, while the new facility will be much more up to date and contain 128 jail beds.
“The new jails are like a mini-prison,” he said. “This is big time stuff.”
While some think the new center will revitalize downtown, Oscarson said he doesn’t necessarily think so, though he said it can’t hurt the area.
“I don’t think it does (spur business),” Oscarson said. “If I’m wrong, that’s great.”
Project manager Mike Clark of KKE Architects, the firm overseeing the project, said he has been impressed with how well Oscarson and the county have worked with the city and construction crews.
“So far, it’s going quite well,” Clark said. “They’re making a lot of progress.”
Oscarson said getting the city and county on the same page took some time early on, but since then the relationship has worked “fine,” he said.
“It was just getting to that point, just politics,” Oscarson said.
The main point of contention was the location of the center — the county originally pushed for a spot near the airport, while city officials pushed for the current downtown location.
Oscarson said the airport location would be slightly better strictly from the county’s perspective, but added that county officials were satisfied with the agreed-upon location.
“We needed a downtown presence,” he said.