Minutes 05-15-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sherriff Pendergrass said this project will need to go forward. He said the daily capacity last year was 130 inmates per day, and there was an average of 65 federal inmates daily last year. He said there will need to be at least a 250 bed jail in the near future due to the impact from state decisions. Commissioner McKee said he hopes staff is working with the sheriff's department on the actual layout and design to make sure it works on a daily basis on the ground. John Sellew said the consultant has been working with them on the preliminary sketches. Commissioner Gordon said the state may be changing requirements and she asked if the prisoners will have to go to another County if there is not enough space. John Sellew said the only alternative if there were not capacity would be to farm these inmates out to other counties and pay whatever price is being charged. Commissioner Gordon asked about the advantages and disadvantages of taking federal inmates. She said her understanding is that the average net income to Orange County for this relationship is $268,000 in net revenue. She said the capital cost is $7.5 million. She said if you divide this out, it takes 28 years to reach $7.5 million. She asked for an explanation of the economy of taking federal prisoners. Sheriff said he does not know that this can be explained. He said over the last 30 years the County has probably raised about $60 million from the federal government that could have been put into an account to build two jails. He said there is a jail with plenty of room and people pay to stay there. He said the only thing the County has to pay for is the inmates being there. He said the federal government pays for the rest. He said the federal government has renovated the jail two times. Commissioner Gordon said she wanted to understand this as it relates to the discussion of increased capacity and whether to build more space. She said they may not have the full information here in terms of all of the benefits and burdens. Commissioner Gordon said this started out as a $30 million jail and then there was discussion of doing it in modules. She said the capacity is down to 216, but it still costs $26 million for the core facility, which doesn't save a lot. Cheryl Young said there have been periods of time where the jail is at full capacity with local inmates. She said the federal inmates are taken when there is space for them, and it is a way to pay for making certain there is enough space for local inmates. She said it basically pays for you to have additional capacity when you need it. Commissioner Gordon said when you modularize and reduce to 216 instead of the full number you don't save that much money, and she asked why. Cheryl Young said she try to find out that information and send it out. Chair Jacobs said this is being worked on by the consultant. He said the whole idea is that costs can be staged by doing the pods. He said the idea is that some of the cost of a full build out can be avoided at first, since full capacity won't be needed right away. John Sellew said the core facility has to be built to withstand expansion. He said to keep in mind that other counties will be affected by potential legislation as well and they may not be able to take Orange County inmates. Chair Jacobs said the core can be thought of like Carrboro High School. Commissioner Gordon referred to page 10 and the capital budget booklet. She said the 5 year total for the proposed jail is $30 million, and then the other document lists a total of $29.4 million. She does not understand these numbers when you are going down from 250 to 216. She would like to understand those costs. Paul Laughton said the $29.4 million includes $2.8 million in debt service. Commissioner Gordon said it would be helpful to get a break down.