Woodward County Commissioners have signed an agreement with Don Jones of Cushing to conduct a detention center budget study so that they will know how much of a sales tax increase to request on an Aug. 11 ballot.
The ballot will ask Woodward County citizens whether they want to increase the sales tax to pay for a new detention center.
Jones is expected to learn how much it will cost to operate and construct a detention center.
The county commission agreed to pay $3,500 to Jones up front for his services for 60 days. After 60 days, Jones will request $1,200 a month.
The dollars would come from an account in the sheriff’s department.
Woodward County Sheriff Gary Stanley said Jones was recommended by J. Brent Clark, P.C., of Oklahoma City, who would prepare bonds to pay for the detention center.
Stanley recommended signing the agreement because, “We’ve got to have the information if we’re going to present it on a ballot.”
During the discussion of the study of staffing operations and assessment of services for the proposed jail, commissioners agreed to have a resolution setting Aug. 11 as a referendum date put on next week’s agenda.
Woodward County Sheriff Gary Stanley recently received blueprints to the proposed facility, which were designed by himself and Architects in Partnership.
According to the blueprints, the sheriff’s office would replace the current detention center in the basement of the Woodward County Courthouse. The area would be remodeled.
The new detention center would be built in two stories and would join the sheriff’s office. It also would have access to courtrooms through a stairwell and a hallway, so prisoners would not have to be taken outside when going to court for hearings.
The detention center would include an area for unloading prisoners and an area for unloading equipment and food.
Stanley said recently the proposed facility would house 124 beds based on Oklahoma jail standards or 118 based on standards by the American Jail Association. The ACA standards would apply if federal prisoners were housed, he said.
Cells would be built around a central unit from which guards and jail personnel could watch inmates. A couple of the cells would house several beds for inmates who represented a low security risk, Stanley said.
The current detention center has the capacity to hold 41 inmates and is in need of constant repair, according to Stanley.
A kitchen in the currently facility has only one washer and drier for the inmates. In addition, space for visitation is cramped and storage is limited.
Also, the current jail is too small to accommodate the number of inmates arrested and put in it. The sheriff said he frequently has to send inmates elsewhere to be held.
In other business, the county commission:
•Approved a payment option for 2009-10 for workman’s compensation insurance in the amount of $102,574.
•Approved an agreement with Muskogee Youth Services for 2009-10 for the amount of $23.27 per day. The facility would house juveniles who are too young to be placed in jail.
•Approved a request for a utility permit for Deepwater Chemicals to bore a water line under a District No. 3 county roadway.
