Shopping Guide News of Fulton County - February 17, 2021

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Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Vol. 64, Issue No. 7

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21 7,0( 81'(5 %8'*(7 ³ The new 50,000-square-foot Fulton County Sheriff÷s Offlce and Detention Center is taking shape on schedule

for its mid-July completion target. Photo by Ray Balogh.

New county jail: More than halfway home %\ 5$< %$/2*+ 6WDII :ULWHU The new county jail is, to be trite, coming along very nicely. To be more specific, the facility, officially dubbed the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center, currently under construction at 2006 Sweetgum Road west of Rochester, is “about 55 to 60 percent completed,” according to Sheriff Chris Sailors. More good news: The 15-month building project is right on pace for on-time completion in mid July, and the $23 million effort is still under budget. “I think it is going to be a building the county can be proud of,” said Sailors. “It will fix a lot of problems we have had over the years and should last a good long time.” The 50,000-square-foot structure is designed in three lettered sections: • A: An administration section spanning the entire frontage of the building, which will include offices for the sheriff’s department, dispatch and coroner. • B: An intake area including facilities such a laundry, kitchen, medical, mechanical and classrooms. The section also includes a 12-person dorm for inmate trustees, work release participants and those serving time on the weekends. • C: A two-story housing area with two- and four-person cells situated around a central indoor control tower. The area also includes three dorms for 32, 28 and 28 inmates respectively. The total capacity for section C is

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198 inmates and the overall capacity, including medical accommodations, is 230. The new jail is a stratospheric improvement over the current county facility, built across from the county courthouse in downtown Rochester in 1985 for 36 occupants. “In the early 2000s we got state approval to double bunk the inmates,” said Sailors, “and in 2008 we moved administration and dispatch to the old post office across the street and turned the vacated space into a 16-person dorm.” The confluence of increased inmate population; inadequacies in the present jail’s grandfathered electrical, plumbing and sewer systems; and dearth of expansion room prompted county officials to form two committees to conduct a feasibility study and find a new location. The cost of trying to bring the current facility up to code and add beds was estimated at $18 million to $19 million, and even then the shelf life of expandability was questionable at best. Sailors said county planners saved about half a million dollars in architect fees by using blueprints from the Adams County Jail in Decatur. “We did adapt those templates to include the county’s first morgue at the back of the building,” Sailors said. The community is generally supportive of the project, and Sailors noted he received some earthy wisdom from “the older folks and farmers,” borne from their gritty no-nonsense business experience. “They told me to be sure to build it big enough, build it right and build

*22' 3/$1 ³ Fulton County Sheriff Chris Sailors reviews the blueprints for the new county jail. County planners saved about $500,000 by using existing blueprints that duplicate the construction of the new Adams County Jail in Decatur. Photo by Ray Balogh. it for the future.” The 15 1/2-acre plot on Sweetgum Road allows plenty of room for expansion. “We can duplicate Section C on the other side of the building if we need to,” he said, “and the location is as close to the center of the county as you can get.” An additional amenity in the new building is a multipurpose room which can be used for training and can “double as a command center in disasters.” “We are trying to embrace as many technologies as possible,” said Sailors, citing a video area that obviates transport of inmates to the courthouse for arraignments and hearings and wall kiosks to facilitate video family visitations and Zoom meetings. The new jail will also be able to

accommodate inmates from other counties, state prisons and federal custody for a per diem charge. Sailors convinced the county commissioners to earmark that income, which could total more three-quarters of a million dollars a year, into two funds: 70% into a debt reduction fund to pay down the municipal bond and 30% into a maintenance and operational fund for future repairs and additional personnel costs and to provide seed money for project expansion. When the construction is completed, all systems will be tested and jail personnel will undergo training. The goal for occupancy is mid-October. For more information, call the sheriff’s department at (574) 2232819 or county commissioners at (574) 223-3869.

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