Sheriff seeks $17,009 cost study for one-unit jail remodel as out-of-county housing costs climb

Sheriff Kevin asked the Des Moines County board to approve a cost study to assess remodeling one exercise area into 15–18 jail beds, presenting a contractor proposal priced at $17,008.90 to produce drawings and cost estimates.

Kevin said the county’s jail is undersized compared with facilities in similar counties and that parts of the current facility were originally designed as housing units but were repurposed as exercise areas when bids exceeded budget in the mid-1990s. “I’m not recommending that this is something that a jail remodel is what we should do, but I think if we have reached that moment where we need to determine what the cost is going to be,” he told the board.

The sheriff told the board that Des Moines County has historically spent roughly $275,000–$280,000 annually on out-of-county inmate housing and that this year the expense will be about $350,000. He said out-of-county housing averages about $65 per inmate per day whereas operating costs inside the county lower the net saving to roughly $30–$35 per inmate per day once medical and other supplies are considered.

Board members and the sheriff discussed staffing and capacity. The sheriff said the department currently has 22 full-time correctional officers and that a staffing survey indicates the jail could absorb the additional 15–18 beds created by a one-unit remodel without immediate hires, though day-to-day workload (medication passes, meal delivery) would increase. “One of these unit remodels is gonna add 15 to 18 beds,” the sheriff said, adding the final number will depend on schematic design and square-footage requirements.

The sheriff presented a vendor comparison and said Crowley Nelson proposed the design and cost-estimate work at about $17,008.90. He asked whether the board would permit him to proceed and said he would return with a budget amendment to fund the study, proposing to use inmate-recovery funds or capital improvement dollars depending on availability.

Funding and timing featured in the discussion: the sheriff warned that inmate-recovery funds will likely shrink because of a new Federal Communications Commission regulation that reduces what counties can recoup on inmate phone and video visitation rates to 2¢ (effective in early April), and those funds are currently earmarked for transport vehicles and officer/inmate safety equipment. "We're gonna see a reduction in what we're able to recoup on those rates," he said.

The sheriff also said he is exploring state attorney-general grant options and the county’s opioid fund to support an in-unit medical/treatment room and peer-support services for detainees with opioid use disorder, arguing the jail offers a captive population for treatment opportunities. He noted inpatient services are expensive and that outpatient services are growing, but that many who need inpatient care are instead arrested and end up in the county facility.

On a separate facility item, the sheriff updated the board on the Sheriff’s Office front-entry project, saying initial total cost estimates fell in the $35,000–$40,000 range but that structural unknowns in an adjacent two-story connection mean staged demolition will be needed to reveal hidden conditions. He said Klinger’s design-only estimate was about $18,000 with design/bid/contract administration potentially up to $32,000, and that Barn Grover provided preliminary storefront numbers around $8,000 for doors and hardware and would provide revised totals.

The sheriff said he will proceed with the cost study if the board is agreeable, monitor the budget-amendment deadline, and bring a formal request back to the board with proposed funding sources.

The work session produced no recorded formal votes in the transcript. The sheriff and board agreed the study is necessary to determine whether a full remodel is cost-effective compared with continuing to pay for out-of-county housing.