Oversight board urges Oklahoma County commissioners to pursue all funding options for new jail

The Citizen's Oversight Advisory Board voted to recommend that the Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners "aggressively pursue all funding options to build the new jail as soon as possible as designed." The recommendation was read into the record by staff and recorded as approved by the advisory board.

The motion followed a briefing on project design and project finances. Board members were told the detention center design is nearly complete and that the county has roughly $218,000,000 shown on the project accounting, including bond proceeds, some of which remain unsold or encumbered. The presenters said $45 million in bonds were sold three years ago but not fully spent; roughly $13 million of that package must be expended in the next 11 months to…