Greene County Sheriff explains cuts to bring jail project in line with bail amount | Raccoon Valley Radio

The Greene County Sheriff is currently working with an engineering firm to reduce the costs of the new county jail before construction can begin.

Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams told Raccoon Valley Radio that original bids for the project were $2 million higher than the up to $10 million approved by county voters last November to build a new county jail.

“I was a little nervous when they (ISG Architects) told me we were $2 million over budget. But by cutting some things we are now within $200,000 of the $10 million.

Williams says he has since worked with ISG Architects and the site manager, DCI Construction, to reduce the amount of concrete used for the parking lots and walkways, switched the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) from geothermal to traditional, reduced the size of some offices and the kitchen, and split the Sally Port, which is used as a drive-through for patrol cars to drop off inmates and suspects, in half.

Williams points out that the number of cell beds remains unchanged at 20 and he expects the total cost to be less than $10 million if the project is re-bid.

“We're hoping that the $200,000 that we're spending now will go down even further when we send out official bids to the contractors, because that's already pretty high. What would that cost in the worst case scenario? Not in the best case scenario. And you just have to look at current interest rates and the contractors are hungry for work, they're lowering their prices to get work. So I'm hoping that $200,000 will go down just because there are so many different contractors looking for work and wanting to take it.”

Williams added that once the final design plans are approved by the Iowa Department of Corrections and the State Fire Marshall's Office, the project could go out to bid, with construction expected to begin in the spring of next year.