By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — Newton County officials next week will start soliciting bids for the relocation of the emergency dispatch services and will start interviewing architects for a proposed expansion of the county jail.
Presiding Commissioner Jerry Carter said the county is looking at undertaking both projects this year, depending on the bids that are received.
“We would hope that it would be done (this year),” Carter said Thursday after the County Commission’s weekly meeting.
The plan is to move the 911 center, currently in the county courthouse, to the former armory building at 202 W. Brook St. Plans call for about 4,000 square feet of the building, which already houses the county’s emergency operations center, to be used as the 911 center’s new home.
The building would be retrofitted to accommodate the new center. A separate entrance would be constructed on the north side of the building, and walls and partitions would be put up to provide space for dispatchers, equipment and training.
The county hopes to have bids returned by the end of March, with a contract to be awarded in April. The work would start in April and be complete in June.
Carter said the bids received for the 911 relocation would be the final factor in whether the county proceeds with the project this year. County officials say the project should cost about $200,000.
Bids also will be the key factor in whether the county goes through with a proposed expansion of the county jail.
If the county does pursue an expansion, that would require outside funding, likely in the form of bonds made available through the federal stimulus program. The program allows local governments to issue their own bonds for public projects and to be reimbursed by the federal government for a portion of the interest they pay.
The county in December received seven proposals from architectural firms seeking to design the expansion. Carter said the commission will start interviewing those firms next week.
After selecting an architect, the county would issue a request for bids. Those bids would have to be back by April, Carter said, for the county to be eligible to use the stimulus bonds.
The cost of the jail expansion is forecast at about $3.5 million, assuming an expansion of between 40 and 50 additional beds. The county also would look at expanding the book-in area, kitchen and laundry. The bonds would be paid off through the county’s general revenue fund over 15 years.
Sheriff Ken Copeland previously told the Globe that the jail has 80 beds. He said the inmate population averaged about 103 per day in 2009, and for several weeks last summer the population reached 137.
The sheriff said inmates must sleep on mattresses on the floor when all the beds are filled.
He also said the county has limited means for handling inmates who have medical issues, for people who are on suicide watch, and for sex offenders who must be isolated from the rest of the population.
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