Photo: Barry Bruner addresses the supervisors and Sheriff Ken Pingrey about concerns with jail placement at courthouse site
Several members of the Carroll community were present at this morning’s (Monday’s) Board of Supervisors meeting, and it was for only one item on the agenda, the proposed placement of a new jail. Sheriff Ken Pingrey and a contingent of other city and county stakeholders have been studying the proposed new jail system after told by inspector, Dale Longley, a little over two years ago that the current jail is no longer even meeting the minimum standards necessary. Since then, the group has been taking classes to learn more about jail design and the reasoning behind certain best practices, visiting other jail sites and researching ideas for placement. Shive Hattery was then hired to provide their expert opinion on location, size and design. The 16,800 square-foot recommendation is for a building attached to the current courthouse in the west side parking. Local business owner and former Carroll Mayor, Adam Schweers, says he really wants to know more and would like the process slowed down. This seemed to be a general theme with others, including local attorney, Barry Bruner.
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He says the de-appropriation and closure of up to a third of the state’s courtrooms could result in the need for regionalization and Bruner is afraid this proposal won’t meet those changing needs.
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Bruner fears we won’t have room for expansion of the courthouse for regionalization. He adds nobody is arguing that a new jail is not needed, it has to get done, they just want the committee to take a look at an offsite location. Several supervisors on the committee said they have been looking at those same issues for two years, and have asked that the building be designed to accommodate a third floor expansion at a future date if deemed necessary. Rich Ruggles told attendees off-site equals a bigger price tag.
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That too would add about another $3 million over 50 years, Ruggles says. When City Council member, Carolyn Siemann asked for the supervisors to step back and please consider the remote site for the aesthetics, the retention of parking spaces and the downtown economy, Ruggles responded.
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And Sheriff Pingrey also addressed the concerns about losing a little more than a dozen parking spaces.
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Neil Bock agrees and says that we don’t need to set ourselves up to be another Pottawattamie County with an officer being attacked and killed during the transfer of a prisoner. Others discussed the increased number of mental health issues and Judge, A. Eric Neu, says that the idea of placing one courtroom in an offsite location would not bring judges there for everything, they would still use the courthouse. He also added that the new site would have to include the entire third floor for full-time utilization; to which Carroll County Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck replied, then this is no longer a courthouse, it’s an administrative building. The entire discussion was tabled at this time. The full audio from the meeting and the initial renderings are included below.
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