Choctaw County reviews revised jail design and contractor bid totaling about $9.97 million

At a special meeting of the Choctaw County Commission on April 17, 2025, county officials reviewed a revised design for a new county jail and a reduced bid from Beasley Construction, with county architects reporting a combined construction total of $9,966,212.

Mike Rudland, introduced at the meeting as the county architect, told commissioners the project went through value-engineering efforts that together reduced construction costs by roughly $773,000 while also adding the bed space required by ongoing litigation. "His base bid was reduced, by some $429,000 even," Rudland said, summarizing the contractor's revisions.

The cost figures presented to the commission were a Beasley Construction base bid of $8,697,000 and a modular unit package whose price fell from about $1,577,000 to about $1,269,000; Rudland gave the combined total as $9,966,212. He said earlier bids had been higher, in the roughly $10.7 million range. Rudland also described design changes made to reach the revised total, including adding a secure exercise yard, converting a three-cell dorm into a 12-bed dormitory, preserving four juvenile beds required by the lawsuit, and keeping a 12-bed female capacity unchanged.

Rudland described additional value-engineering changes that reduced square footage and material costs: a secured vehicle sallyport was reduced from two-car to one-car capacity, a public lobby restroom was converted to a single unisex toilet, exterior veneer was changed from split-face block to a standard printed veneer block, and food-service equipment selections were scaled back from higher-end models to more economical equivalents. He said the modular package includes detention furnishings and many security systems. "I think that facility is an AC American Correctional Association standards compliant facility for local adult detention," Rudland said.

Contract timing and start were discussed but not finalized. Rudland said the contract documents list a completion window of 660 days; later in the meeting he and others referred to 666 days as a planning limit tied to ARPA funding timing. He estimated a practical construction schedule closer to 16 months and said contractors expect about 30 days to complete a conformance set of drawings before on-site work could begin. Rudland also said the county and contractor intend to visit the module plant in Atlanta to observe fabrication and quality control.

No formal motion to award the contract to Beasley Construction appears in the transcript provided. Commissioners asked questions about furnishings, electronic security, and how module delivery would be coordinated with site work; Rudland said most security equipment and detention furnishings are included in the modular package, but some millwork (for example, a control-desk unit) and minor items such as additional mattresses would still require county purchase.

The commission’s discussion did not record a vote or a final award decision in the provided transcript. Commissioners were given the revised drawings and cost figures and were told staff and contractor representatives remained available to answer further questions before any formal award.

Choctaw County will likely return the item to a future meeting for a formal contract action once commissioners have reviewed final contract documents and scheduling details, according to remarks in the session.