Work on jail improvements set to begin
Upgrades to the Dubois County Security Center and Community Corrections are set to begin in May if funding comes through in time.
Monday, Construction Manager Mark Shireman told the Dubois County Commissioners that bond documents should be completed and submitted by the beginning of May and funding through the bond sales should be available by May 17. Once the bonds are sold and money is in hand, the commissioners can officially award the contract to the companies completing the work.
During the meeting, the commissioners approved Krempp Construction as the general contractor ($15,960,000), Weyer Electric as the electrical contractor ($2,251,075), and Harrel-Fish Inc. of Bloomington as the mechanical contractor ($6,848,848).
Shireman informed the commissioners that bids on the work came in about $1.3 million less than estimated and about 75 percent of the work will be completed by the two local contractors.
Plans to renovate the jail and community corrections have been in progress since 2017. The extensive project includes expanding and renovating the jail from a linear outdated design to a pod-based design that allows for more separation of the jail population leading to safer operations for staff and prisoners, as well as more room for services to address substance abuse and mental and emotional health issues. The community corrections building will also be renovated and updated to accommodate more female participants and more services. Additionally, both buildings need extensive work to update the infrastructure and HVAC systems.
When contracts are officially awarded, work will begin on the new jail pod and additions to community corrections and some updates at the existing jail. “When the pod gets finished, we will move people into the pod and then we will move people from community corrections into the sheriff’s areas,” Shireman said.
Shireman said the “musical chairs” are necessary to accommodate the work without having to send the jail population to a neighboring county’s facility and thus, incurring extra costs for housing them there.
