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Grant County selects BW for jail scoping, forms stakeholder committee
Summary
The Grant County Board of Commissioners approved moving forward with BW Construction as the BOT developer to begin a scoping period that will assess jail renovation, detention center reuse or new construction, and created a stakeholder committee including commissioners, the sheriff and county council representatives.
Grant County commissioners voted on Aug. 5 to begin a scoping process with BW Construction to evaluate options for addressing jail overcrowding, and to form a stakeholder committee to guide the work.
County counsel and outside consultants told commissioners the scoping period is intended to identify whether renovation, reuse of the detention center or a new facility is the appropriate response. Counsel said selecting BW for scoping would not automatically commit the county to build a new jail and that consultants’ scoping fees would generally be rolled into any later guaranteed maximum price rather than billed to the county during the scoping period.
Sheriff Garcia described the county’s overcrowding and adjudication bottlenecks, saying the jail population recently peaked around 283 inmates and that the county has paid to house inmates out of county to avoid litigation. He urged the stakeholder process include prosecutors, judges and court staff to address delays that keep people in custody.
During discussion, consultants stressed that the request for proposals was deliberately broad to allow the design team to test several scenarios and return costed options. Commissioners emphasized the need for early stakeholder involvement and for the county to retain the right to object to specific subcontractors or team members proposed by the developer.
The board’s motions — to select BW Construction to begin scoping and to add county council representation to the stakeholder committee — were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. Commissioners also directed that the stakeholder group include the chair, the director of administration, the sheriff and council designees, with other judges or prosecutors to be added as needed.
Next steps: the stakeholder committee will convene to frame scope and invite designers and county justice partners to provide input during the scoping period; commissioners were told a full design could take roughly six to eight months depending on the options chosen."
