New jail information meeting Saturday morning

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

With only 10 days left until a special election asking Floyd County voters to decide whether they approve building a new law enforcement center and doing courthouse updates, county officials are hustling to inform residents about the issue.

An open public meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the NIACC Center in Charles City (near the Hy-Vee parking lot), with several of the key people who have been involved with the project.

Scheduled to be there are Delbert Longley, the state jail inspector whose reports identified the need for the country to do something about its 77-year-old jail; Jeff Heil, of Northland Securities, who will be able to talk about the property tax implications of selling up to $13.5 million dollars in general obligation bonds; and Jim Classe and Curt Field, architects with Prochaska & Associates, the planning and design firm that has helped the county through the initial phases of the project.

Also on hand will be Floyd County Supervisor Linda Tjaden, who led the citizens committee that made a recommendation for a new LEC to the Board of Supervisors; Sheriff Jeff Crooks, whose department runs the jail; and County Auditor Gloria Carr, who is responsible for the maintenance and management of the courthouse building.

Tjaden urged as many people as possible to attend the Saturday morning meeting.

“This will be the only meeting for all of them to attend,” she said, referring to Longley, Heil and the Prochaska representatives.

Tjaden said each of them will likely give a short presentation about their involvement in the project, but “we’ll have lots of time for people to ask questions.”

Tjaden and Crooks, along with other county employees, have been busy for more than a month giving educational presentations about the current state of the jail and courthouse.

“We’ve pushed so much, doing a lot of these meetings. We’ve done a lot of them throughout the county,” Tjaden said.

“But we tell people, if you’ve got a gathering of people in your home, if you’ve got a meeting coming up and you feel that you still want a last-minute agenda item, you call us. Sheriff Crooks and I are certainly open to meeting yet with anybody right up until that day of voting if there’s information they still need,” she said.

Tjaden especially urged people to go on one of the tours of the county jail that are still being offered. She said people who go on the tour and see its condition are convinced that something needs to be done.

Jail tours will be available to the public:

• Saturday, April 21, at 1 p.m.
• Thursday, April 26, at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 28, at 1 p.m.

Tjaden said questions that have come up during previous talks have included why the county doesn’t remodel an existing unused building for a jail, or why it doesn’t build a new facility in the country instead of in town.

“We’ve tried to explain that jail requirements are pretty unique,” she said. “It would take a lot of remodeling of an existing building to even meet the requirements of a jail, which aren’t small.

“Plus, then you’re in transport mode of transporting prisoners even if it’s across town to the courthouse because all of their judicial work is here in the courtroom or the magistrate court,” Tjaden said.

She also said the the Sheriff’s Office is responsible for providing security in the courthouse, so it makes sense to have that department nearby.

County Auditor Carr said she has heard questions about property taxes, and how much people’s taxes are going to increase.

People need to remember to include the rollback amount, which cuts their assessed valuation almost in half to determine how much extra they will pay.

Carr also said people have wondered about flooding, with the addition next to the courthouse being so close to the Cedar River.

She pointed out that the plans call for the law enforcement center to be raised to 1 foot above the 500-year floodplain, a higher standard than the city requires and the same standard recommended by the state for critical infrastructure.

Tjaden said most of the people she has talked to understand the need to also renovate the courthouse, which was built in 1941 and needs updates to its heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; its windows; and which doesn’t currently have an elevator or sufficient restrooms that meet federal handicapped access rules.

Tjaden said people should know that about $10 million of the project is for a new law enforcement center with a jail and about $3.5 million is for courthouse updates.

“We also plan to look at opportunities to reduce the price as we get into design plans,” she said. The bond referendum is for up to $13.5 million, but that is a rough estimate and could be reduced as final specifications are completed.

Tjaden said some people have the attitude that money shouldn’t be spent on criminals, that whatever the situation in the jail is now is good enough.

But some of the people held in the county jail haven’t been convicted of a crime. They are being held while awaiting trial, she said.

Others may have made a stupid mistake, she said. “This could be the defining moment that we treat them decent and they turn it around.”

And regardless of how people feel about the detainees, much of the reason changes are needed is for the safety of the Sheriff’s Office employees and the public, the state jail inspector has said.