This past week marked a milestone for the jail project. After almost 10 years of planning and numerous revisions to the project plans, the initiative was formally shelved. About a year ago, the plans for the new facility were accepted by the county board, followed by a failed motion to fund the project. This began a year of revisiting the project scope and the process that got us to that point.

Last month, we engaged with a consultant to provide us with a contract to serve as an Owner’s Representative to review once again all of the work that had been done thus far and make recommendations for moving forward. At this week’s County Board meeting, the resolution to approve that contract failed, thus putting this project into a state of inconclusion.

One of the main driving forces to this action, or lack thereof, is a matter that I have shared many times throughout the past decade: the need for adequate staffing. When we embarked upon this project, the ability to ramp up for the necessary staffing in this new facility was not a major concern, however, what we have seen in the past few years is a widespread shortage of qualified candidates throughout our discipline. As our experienced Deputies have transitioned into retirement or, in some cases, switched career paths altogether, we have seen the pool of potential employees dwindle. This is important as we can not and should not proceed with a project dependent on staffing for basic operations until that staffing is solidified.

Another driving force to our current state is the misinformation and misunderstanding of what I, as Sheriff, can and cannot do regarding the housing of inmates. After numerous presentations and reports, there are some that demand we ship all of our inmates out of county or that we put them on electronic monitoring in lieu of housing them. This is neither possible nor logical. Some feel our facility is adequate and just needs some cosmetic fixes. The deficiencies of our current facility go well beyond cosmetics. Our current facility's mere design and configuration have been and continue to be the greatest source of concern and risk.

With all of that being said, the reality is we will remain in our current facility for the foreseeable future. This will result in addressing the numerous deficiencies the State identified in our current facility. Knowing that once we can arrive at the proper staffing levels in the next few years, we will once again move forward with this project, we intend to do the absolute minimum to maintain the safest possible environment for both the inmates in our care as well as the Deputies who provide that care. We owe a great deal of appreciation to those men and women who continue to work in this current facility with all of its limitations and inherent risks. This is not the outcome I anticipated or hoped for when we began this journey many years ago. While I will not be Sheriff when (Not If) this project is once again embarked upon, I will do my best maintain and transition as much knowledge and documentation so that any future efforts are not once again starting from scratch.

I want to thank the County Board members who spent many hours in Committee meetings and study groups reviewing countless pages of data and information. I also want to thank those members who asked thoughtful questions to better inform themselves about the many details of this project.