Public Safety Center Committee recommends May 5 referendum vote to Board of Supervisors

by Bob Beach

Allamakee County Supervisors Larry Schellhammer, Dan Byrnes and Dennis Koenig were all in attendance at the most recent meeting of the Allamakee County Public Safety Center Committee held Wednesday evening, February 25. During public comment time, Board of Supervisors Chairman Schellhammer said that the Board of Supervisors has been accused of "a lot of different things" over the past week and he wanted to make clear that the Board of Supervisors is not pushing for a vote on a bond referendum in May.
Schellhammer also responded to a recent Letter to the Editor published in The Standard by saying that the Board of Supervisors did not pull mental health services from the Public Safety Center, as such services were never part of the plans to begin with. He added that he and the Board have been doing everything they can to address shortages in beds for patients with mental health issues.
Public Safety Center Committee member and longtime Allamakee County Sheriff's Department employee Rev Lonning also responded to the same letter, saying that no one with a mental health problem has ever been sent from the emergency room to jail because a mental health bed could not be found. "That would be illegal and it has never happened," she said.
Public Safety Center Committee Chairman John Ellingson acknowledged that there has been a lot of misinformation circulating recently about the proposed new jail that would need to be addressed prior to a bond referendum.
During regular business, Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick presented the Committee with updated conceptual cost estimates for construction of the new jail facility. The probable cost to construct the facility at the Makee Manor site northeast of Waukon was estimated at $5,544,785, while the probable cost to construct the facility at the Sherman property was estimated at $5,966,371 (assuming a land acquisition cost of $200,000, which is itself just an estimate).
Former Allamakee County Sheriff Tim Heiderscheit asked why the Sherman property is still being considered when the Public Safety Center Committee has already voted twice, unanimously, to recommend the Makee Manor site for the new facility.
Allamakee County Supervisor Dan Byrnes said that his doubts were the result of cost estimates provided by Midwest Construction Consultants President John Hanson regarding the Sherman property. Specifically, he said that while Hanson had estimated a cost of $270,000 to construct a storage building to replace the buildings currently at the Makee Manor site (which by Byrnes' own estimation could be constructed new for around $70,000), Hanson had estimated $185,000 in excavation costs at the Sherman site and no excavation cost at Makee; and the acquisition cost of $200,000 included in Hanson's estimate is not a firm number.
He said that not only did those discrepancies raise "red flags" in his mind, but that he would also like to see operational cost estimates to include the difference in fuel costs of propane (which would most likely be used at Makee Manor), and natural gas (which could be used at the Sherman site). "Let's think about this and make sure these numbers are still valid," Byrnes said.
Sheriff Mellick addressed Byrnes' concerns, saying that the current storage buildings at the Makee Manor site are not heated, which has caused some problems in the winter, mostly with the emergency generators stored there. Mellick said if those buildings were to be replaced, it would make sense to have them heated, which accounts for that discrepancy. He said that excavation costs were not included in the Makee Manor site estimate because it was assumed that the County would be responsible for the demolition of the Makee Manor building and provide a prepared site, so those costs would not be included in the project cost.
Finally, Mellick said that future costs of propane and natural gas could not be accurately predicted, but he anticipates that the difference in fuel costs between the two sites would be negated by the difference in the low-cost maintenance of the sewage lagoon system at the Makee Manor site compared to city water and sewer costs at the Sherman site.
Mellick also pointed out that the project has been under consideration for nearly two years and that time is running out, saying that the current jail's first audit under the Prison Rape Elimination Act would be conducted this fall and there is no way the current jail will pass that audit. "The time on the clock has run out on our jail," he said. He added that the Committee has determined that the Makee Manor site is a viable and cost-efficient option for the project, while the availability and viability of the Sherman property are not known at this time. He said that while construction costs have risen since the bond referendum was put to voters in November, his hope is that other funding options could be used to keep the bond at the same $4.9 million figure that received the support of over 59% of voters, or that the facility could be redesigned to keep the cost below that figure.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Schellhammer presented the Committee with a letter outlining an agreement with Hacker, Nelson & Co., P.C. to evaluate the County's options to fund the project, including a debt service levy, sale of the County Farm, pledging County Farm rent receipts towards the project, and/or use of existing County fund balances to reduce the amount of the bond. He said that his personal feeling is that the County Farm should not be sold as it is an annuity for the County and it would be short sighted to do so, but that he would not be opposed to pledging the rent from the County Farm to help pay for the jail. "I've thought about this a lot and I want to make sure that our decision on this is the right one," he said. "We will do our due diligence."
Supervisors Byrnes and Koenig expressed their agreement with Schellhammer's statement. Byrnes added that he would like to see the project completed on budget, so accurate estimates are needed. "We need to make an informed decision," Byrnes said. "We're not hung up on one site."
After some discussion, the Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Supervisors schedule a special election for a bond referendum May 5. The Board agreed to continue to work towards getting the bond referendum approved by the required 60% of Allamakee County voters.