Woodward County Commissioners took a step Monday toward building a new jail by entering into an agreement with an architectural corporation to have a plan developed.

Representatives of the firm -- Architects in Partnership, a Norman based professional corporation --said the cost for developing the plan would be paid for on a contingency basis of seven percent.

Ben Graves, senior principal of Architects in Partnership, presented the procedure that would be followed in creating the plan and presented the corporation’s background to the commission.

Graves said the Haskell County Jail, which commissioners visited, was the first jail the corporation had built. It contained 102 to 110 beds and cost $6.2 million.

“It was a very successful jail,” Graves said, noting the corporation, started in 1974, had been building jails for the last eight years.

In McIntosh County, Architects in Partnership is more than half way into completing a jail that will contain 142 beds, Graves said. The corporation was recently hired to build a 135-bed facility in Washita County, as well.

The corporation is experienced in developing jails, Graves said.

The proposed new jail in Woodward County could be built behind the courthouse, Graves said, but another floor would have to be added to it to accomplish this.

Because jail cells are heavy, he said, the upper floor cells would have to be constructed with reinforced concrete, Graves said. Cells on lower floors are constructed of reinforced steel.

He said the number of beds in a jail is determined by a formula of 5 beds per thousand of an area’s population and that with the pod layout and number of trustees for the proposed Woodward County jail would likely use 120 to 135 beds. The current jail has 40.

Graves said the female count in the jail population is lower in this part of Oklahoma, and that could affect the bed count somewhat.

“Our experience in working with sheriffs and commissioners over the last eight years has been very involved,” Graves said. “Out of all the jails involved, we’ve only one where we had to hold a second election (to pay for it), and that was in Caddo County.”

Financing of the proposed new jail was discussed. Brent Clark, an attorney with J. Brent Clark, P.C., told commissioners he had done public finance for 35 years and said “a jail is a challenge because it is a necessity. “

“The question has already been answered ... you need a new jail,” Clark said. “The sheriff has already made that known.

“The most accepted method of paying for jails is through a sales tax.”

He said the commissioners should hope for 10-year financing, noting that in 2009, there are plenty of opportunities to hold an election.

“We don’t leave you out here alone to explain the (need) to your voters,” Clark said. “Our experience is if the public understands the need, they’ll support it.”

Graves recommended Joe D. Hall as contractor for the proposed jail because the contractor is local.

The current Woodward County Jail, located in the back of the courthouse, is old and doesn’t have enough beds to meet demand. It has plumbing problems and only enough room for one washer and dryer and a small kitchen.

The jail recently was found to be out of compliance with regulations because too many beds -- six -- were in a jail cell, and the cell was deemed too small to hold them.

Woodward County Sheriff Gary Stanley said an inspector recently told him a new jail was needed.

Stanley said the jail is overcrowded and that people who need to be locked up are sent elsewhere “because we don’t have enough bed space.”

When Stanley became sheriff Jan. 2, the jail was in a state of disrepair. Some of the corrections he oversaw involved replacement of plumbing and lighting fixtures.

The jail is in constant need of repair and is too small for adequate visitation quarters, he said recently.

Stanley said Monday after the county commission meeting he was just happy that “we got a contract signed” toward getting a new jail.

In other business, the county denied a zoning request after a public hearing for a change of zoning classification on property located south of Hanks Trail and west of Eighth Street Road.

About 10 residents from the area presented complaints about changing the zoning classification from general agricultural to general residential, saying it would devalue their property.

A company requesting the zoning change said developers planned to build apartments on the 8.26 acres involved. The apartments could eventually consist of 240 units renting for an estimated $650 each.

Residents complained traffic at the intersection is already heavy and that the road in the area was not designed to accommodate heavy traffic.

Resident Stan Dennison said of the proposed apartment complex, “As a land owner, I would prefer to see it anywhere else.”

The developer is LL Development of Oklahoma City.

Karl Oltermann of the development company said, “We’ll be back.”