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Floyd County OKs next step of new jail process

Doris Williams, who lives on Foothill Avenue southeast of Rockford, complains about the road's condition at the Floyd County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning. Press photo by Bob Steenson
Doris Williams, who lives on Foothill Avenue southeast of Rockford, complains about the road’s condition at the Floyd County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning. Press photo by Bob Steenson

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Floyd County supervisors took a step Tuesday toward deciding if the county will build a new jail and law enforcement center.

The board had listened to information from its consultant during a work session Monday, so it took only a few minutes to make the decision during the regular meeting Tuesday to approve a contract with Prochaska & Associates to proceed with the next stage of planning.

Prochaska had been working with the county and with Charles City until the Charles City Council decided last week to withdraw from considering a joint city-county law enforcement center (LEC) because of the cost of the project compared with remodeling existing city facilities.

Under the new $15,000 Part 2 Facilities Development contract with Floyd County, Prochaska will help “determine the most feasible and cost effective solution to the current LEC’s space and functional shortcomings, shortage of jail beds and compliance issues with the Iowa Department of Corrections.”

The two options it will look at are:

• Building a new county law enforcement center west of the existing courthouse.

• Closing the jail, building a short-term holding facility and transporting all inmates to facilities in other counties.

The Part 2 study will also look at options for using space vacated by the Sheriff’s Department and jail in the courthouse and other possible courthouse renovation projects.

A Prochaska project manager said Monday the Omaha consulting firm would be able to help the county get ready in time for a November bond referendum if it wants to proceed that quickly.

Also at the meeting Tuesday, board members expressed empathy for a county resident who brought a road complaint to them, but took no direct action.

Doris Williams, who lives on Foothill Avenue southeast of Rockford, was at the meeting, and had sent a letter to the county asking that a culvert under a gravel road by her house be replaced with a bridge, “or the very least, the road should be wider so there are shoulders extending, culverts extended out farther and guard rails added.”

She said the road washes out frequently during floods and is unsafe because of its width and because of the amount of traffic.

Dusty Rolando, county engineer, said the road meets all the county’s guidelines for its geometry and construction.

“She has very good points,” he said of Williams’ concerns, “but it’s not required as far as geometric standards are concerned. There’s no accident history there. The culverts are more than what we’ve designed.”

He said he would never put a bridge in there unless directed to by the board because there are other areas of the county where they are closing bridges because of cost.

“Yeah, the roads get soft at the edge, but that’s not just there,” Rolando said. “That’s all across the county.”

He said he would consider lengthening the culvert if the county has to do work on the area because it washes out in a future flood. He also said he would discuss with an adjoining landowner the possibility of the county removing a beaver dam on a pond to lower the water level.

He also said guard rails are not warranted in the area.

“We exclude guard rails because there’s no accident history,” he said. “Could it help? Yes, it would stop anybody from going off there, but then I’d be putting guard rail up on 500, 600 miles in the county.”

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Approved a $3.47 million contract with Cedar Valley Corp. of Waterloo to pave with concrete a portion of county road T26 from the Marble Rock city limits north to the Rockford road.

• Approved a new employee handbook for county employees.

• Received an audit report on the county’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2016. Elizabeth Thyer, a partner in the accounting firm of Gardiner Thomsen of Charles City, said, “This year’s audit is pretty clean. There’s not a lot to go through.”

• Appointed Erika Troyna to a six-year term on the Magistrate Appointing Commission.

• Re-appointed Robert Mondt to a three-year term on the Veterans Affairs Commission.

• Re-appointed Beverly Fisher to a five-year term on the Conservation Board.

 

 

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