HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As expected, the Reno County Commission Tuesday went over the architectural drawings for renovations to the current Reno County Jail Annex. That area will become the future home of some county departments once the new county jail is completed and inmates in the annex are moved out.
It’ll take some time to convert the building from a jail to an office building and move those county departments to that area. Total cost is estimated at $2,266,200. However, that doesn’t include the cost of furniture for the new area which could be as much as $200,000.
It was also recommended Tuesday that a new roof be added to the project which could be another $125,000.
There’s some thought that there may be some savings from the building of the current jail which could be used to cover these additional cost, however Commissioner Dan Deming cautioned that there could be more cost to adding a secure entrance to the courthouse, saying any savings from the jail would be offset by those cost.
No decisions were made at this point with the item brought up as a discussion item only. It’s expected to be brought up again next week and they could make some final decisions then.
They hope is to have a design and take bids late this summer and then begin construction with the hope of it being completed in 2016.
The commission did approve two items, one being a new vehicle for Reno County Community Corrections. On a 2 to 1 vote, they granted permission to purchase a Chevy Equinox from Shep Chevrolet in Haven at a cost of $21,538. But, given a trade in allowance of $6,100, that knocks the price down to $15,438. Commissioner Dan Deming voted against it, saying they should go with the lower bid for a Chevy Trax, even though its smaller in size.
They also approved the Reno County Health Department application for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment grants totaling $483,265.20 which would require a local match of just over $198,000.