(Guthrie Co.) The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors awarded bids for the Law Enforcement Center Addition at their meeting Tuesday.
Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright said the Supervisors voted 5 to 0 to accept the low bids. “They didn’t pick just one contractor to do the whole project; they picked several contractors to do the concrete, to do the general construction, roofing, the detention equipment, food service, elevator, fire suppression, plumbing, HVAC, electrical and exterior.”
The bids came in over $9 million. Sheriff Arganbright stated, “You know, we passed a bond at $8.7 million last March to complete this project and the bids did come in over $9 million. We were hoping to stay around the $8.7 million, that’s what the taxpayers will pay. We had some interest income from the bond sale, so hopefully that will take care of that overage.”
Sheriff Arganbright said this project has been long awaited. “I’ve been talking about it for ten years. Our jail is still full. We were relying on other counties to take prisoners because we were full. Now that the COVID virus is around every county has to be careful so it’s a good time to start this project for a new facility.”
Sheriff Arganbright said their target date to break ground on the project is October 19th and the project is expected to take 15 months to complete.
The project includes a new Sheriff’s Office and jail addition to the courthouse, along with improvements to the courthouse parking lot. The 14,000 square foot addition provides improved inmate capacity to address classification and segregation requirements. In addition to those improvements, the addition will also improve inmate transportation costs, rehabilitation and safety conditions, and overall workflow efficiency.
