Jail study report to be shared at next commission meeting

Published 3:00 am Thursday, June 14, 2018

After months of waiting, the findings of the jail feasibility study for the Pike County Commission will be revealed at their upcoming meeting.

TCU Consulting Services, the firm that the commission has been working with to collect and analyze a myriad of data relating to the jail, was originally planned to have results ready by February, but delays meeting with stakeholders and one of the team members dealing with family emergency delayed the results until June.

Interim administrator McKenzie Wilson said the county does not know yet what the findings of the report are.

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“We don’t know what we’re going to get yet,” Wilson said. “The study includes what size jail we’re going to be looking at, options they might have for us, whether we need more correction officers or deputies, any adjustment for pay, where they would put it, the amount of beds – all that will be in that report. It might include how much it might cost.”

Wilson said she doesn’t expect any action immediately from the commission considering the amount of information expected to be contained within the report. The jail may not even be just a jail – the bill passed by the state legislature authorizing the commission to raise a tax to fund the construction of the project allows for a jail or a “jail complex” that could include other judicial and administrative offices for the county.

Wilson said TCU has been preparing for any and every option on the table.

“They’ve met with numerous people, from judges to the district attorneys to the sheriff’s department to our department,” Wilson said.

The Pike County Commission searched for months to find a third party organization to furnish a feasibility study for the jail project so that the county could have an unbiased source of information on what kind of jail the count will need moving forward.

The study has included multiple components, including a classification and compensation study to collect the date of all the county’s positions and whether and how to reclassify and adjust compensation depending on what a new jail would require and what the competitive rates are.

The firm also did site assessments for potential locations to put the jail, and analyzed details about the jail system to determine the needs of any new facility.

TCU will be presenting the report to the commission on Monday, June 25, upstairs at the Pike County Health Department. The work session will begin at 5:15 p.m. and the business meeting will follow at 6 p.m.