County facilities staff present $3M building‑envelope plan for 511 Capitol Street jail; supervisors ask for schedule, costs and options

Johnson County officials spent more than three hours on a staff and consultant briefing about structural and building‑envelope problems at the Sheriff’s Office and County Jail at 511 Capitol Street, and directed staff to return quickly with a proposal, schedule and clearer costs so supervisors can weigh repair versus replacement.

Facilities Director Dave Curtis told the Board of Supervisors the county contracted Acxiom Consultants in October to perform a focused investigation of the building envelope after repeated state jail inspections and a prior property‑condition assessment. “The big question for the board today is what are we gonna do with it?” Curtis said, summarizing the decision supervisors face about whether to treat the report as information or move immediately into a phased repair design and bidding package.

Acxiom principal Rob Decker and OPN architect Zach Ryder reviewed results of a partial destructive review. “The envelope of the building is the primary issue,” Decker said, pointing to long‑running roof, flashing and wall‑assembly defects; the consultants cited full‑section loss on the roof membrane, failing mechanical units, inadequate insulation and drainage, spalling brick, corroded bearing plates and rotted storefront and steel doors. The team recommended removing the existing roof down to structure, installing a modern membrane roof with appropriate insulation and drainage, replacing rooftop HVAC units, repairing wall assemblies and replacing corroded structural bearing plates in a phased stabilization program.

A third‑party estimator, listed in the packet as Stecker Hundson, produced a cost opinion of about $3,000,000 for the envelope stabilization work. Consultants said they applied a design‑stage factor and other allowances (the report and staff package show a roughly 20% addition) and provided a planning‑level budget the county summarized around $3.4–3.6 million to account for phasing, access and contractor means and methods the county intends to specify in bid documents.

Sheriff’s Office staff and supervisors asked about leaks and interior plumbing. Decker and the sheriff clarified the investigation focused on the building skin and roof—“the envelope”—not interior plumbing and jail‑system piping; consultants recommended targeted camera inspection of stacks and said interior plumbing overhaul would be far more destructive and expensive because much of the jail interior is masonry and concrete masonry unit construction.

Supervisors pressed staff to bring both a financing breakdown and a realistic schedule. Consultants estimated design, bidding and phased construction could start within months and that a large portion of the envelope work could be completed within about a year if the board chose to move quickly. Board members asked staff to return with a project schedule (design, bid and construction phases), expected departmental impacts and funding options; staff said they would bring a formal proposal and schedule to the board in the next two to three weeks and would meet internally with finance to line up funding options.

Several supervisors also asked staff to compare repair costs and logistics with an estimate for closing the existing facility and moving operations, a topic supervisors raised repeatedly in the discussion. One board member presented a back‑of‑envelope estimate for relocating jail functions and transporting detainees that would increase near‑term operating costs in the millions; staff and supervisors said they wanted a clearer cost/benefit comparison comparing a multi‑year new facility project with an envelope stabilization program.

No formal vote was taken at the work session. Staff said they would revise an accompanying resolution (item 1) to explicitly name both the county jail and the sheriff’s office in the recitals and return both the revised resolution and the stabilization proposal to the board at the next formal meeting.

Ending: Supervisors asked for a written schedule, a financing plan and a clear cost breakdown for the envelope stabilization option and for comparable relocation/closure estimates. Staff agreed to return with those materials on a rapid timetable so the board can decide whether to proceed to design and bidding or pursue alternative facility strategies.