County eyes plans for jail
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 5, 2015 1:50 AM
sherring@newsargus.com
The architectural plans and schematic drawings for a new 217-bed misdemeanant jail on North William Street will be unveiled during the Wayne County commissioners' Tuesday morning meeting.
The plan estimates that the base bid for the project will be $8.7 million.
Commissioners also are expected to proceed with plans for a new 911 call center.
The meeting will get under way with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
Mosely Architects was hired to design the jail, which the county plans to construct on the old Masons department store property it owns on North William Street.
The board has set aside $10 million in a capital project ordinance for fiscal budget years 2014-15 and 2015-16, meaning the money does not have to be appropriated each year.
Commissioners hope to have the project, which will not require a property tax increase to build, ready to bid out within the next few months.
The misdemeanant jail would be the first phase of a larger judicial center project that would have the smaller jail facing Stronach Avenue with a larger area behind it reserved for the main jail to be constructed later.
It would be a single-story facility with about 37,000 square feet of floor space.
The design shows a T-shaped building with the top of the T, where the cell pods would be located, running parallel to Stronach Avenue.
The leg of the T, which would house administration, the kitchen, laundry and other offices, would be perpendicular to Stronach Avenue with a secure, controlled entryway facing that street.
Each pod would have a fenced-in recreational yard.
The 911 center project is the outgrowth of a detailed study by Mission Critical consultants on staffing and facility needs at the center.
The study recommended that the county either expand the current center or build a new one to add more telecommunicators to handle the call volume.
It also found that the current facility is inadequate.
The county sent out a request for qualifications for companies interested in the project.
Five architectural firms that have experience in designing 911 centers were interviewed by a committee made up of County Manager George Wood, Assistant County Manager Tommy Burns, Fire Marshal Bryan Taylor, purchasing manager Noelle Woods and commission Chairman Wayne Aycock.
The committee is recommending the firm of Stewart, Cooper and Newell of Gastonia.
The county is applying for a grant from the State 911 Board to pay for the facility.
"In talking to all five firms, who had seen the current facility, they convinced us an expansion within the Jeffreys Building was not feasible, and further presented some site problems as well," Wood wrote in a memo to commissioners. "Given that, we are recommending that we make the scope of work for a new facility only, not a possible renovation.
"In discussing the grant process with Phil Penny of Mission Critical, we were informed that the architect cannot be employed until we receive the grant. Consequently, I am recommending that you authorize me to negotiate with the recommended architect, but we would not bring you back a contract until, and unless, we receive the grant."