Following overwhelming support from Guthrie County voters for a new $8.7 million law enforcement center in Guthrie Center on Tuesday, county officials have already started gearing up to get the project moving. Sheriff, Marty Arganbright, and his staff spent countless hours speaking at meetings, hosting tours of their existing facility and even taking to social media to engage as many voters as possible. Arganbright says all that effort showed at the polls.
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The current jail was constructed nearly 60 years and had fallen into disrepair and out of compliance with Iowa code. When completed, the new 14,800 square foot, 28-bed facility will bring the county’s jail back into compliance, expand law enforcement’s ability to hold prisoners and provide for additional inmate classifications. He says it will also improve work and safety conditions for deputies, jail staff and prisoners. On behalf of everybody from the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, Arganbright offers thanks to the voters for supporting the project.
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Arganbright says getting the referendum passed was obviously one of the largest hurdles they will have to overcome, but there is still a lot of work yet to do before they can call the project finished.
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He is optimistic the new jail will be able to begin housing prisoners sometime near the end of 2022. Shive-Hattery, the same firm that assisted Carroll County with their new jail, helped design Guthrie County’s jail and will be assisting county officials for the remainder of the project.