Last month commissioners talked about adding onto the current facility but following a meeting Thursday with architect Larry Goldberg the commissioners are looking at building a new facility.Â
Chairman Travis Turner says the county can actually save money and time by taking this route.
The county is currently spending up to $50,000 a month to house prisoners in other counties and officials say that money can be used better here. The new facility will increase the bed space by three-fold and White County Sheriff Neal Walden says in addition to saving the county money on the construction costs they will be able to save on staffing as well because they can design the new facility to require fewers employees.
By going with new construction, Goldberg says they can be in the new facility within 14 months compared to up to four years for the additions to the current facility. According to Turner, they will be exploring financing options for the construction and use SPLOST money to pay for it.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/10/224194