'Five-year fix' would cost $8.5M

Sheriff's department administrator Larry Lowman discussed the benefits of additional space for the sheriff's department and jail during a presentation Tuesday night to a joint meeting of the county commission's courthouse and county property committee and its law enforcement and workhouse committee. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Order this photo]

An architectural firm and an engineering firm have studied the proposal to convert the old Bedford County Medical Center building into a sheriff's office and auxiliary jail, and estimate that it would cost about $8.5 million, which is about half the cost of a brand-new 300-bed jail.

The project was discussed Tuesday night at a joint meeting of Bedford County Board of Commissioners' courthouse and county property committee and the law enforcement and workhouse committee.

"It's a lot more feasible than you might think," said John Cheney of Mt. Juliet-based Kaatz, Binkley, Jones and Morris Architects (KBJM), which worked with Tullahoma-based Oliver-Rhoads Associates (ORA), a consulting engineering firm.

John Cheney of Kaatz, Binkley, Jones and Morris Architects told county commissioners that the old Bedford County Medical Center building is structurally sound and could house inmates and the sheriff's office. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The sheriff's department, meanwhile, says that moving female inmates from the existing jail to the hospital, allowing the county to keep more state felons at the main jail and perhaps even to keep some other counties' female inmates at the remodeled hospital, could generate as much as $1.9 million a year in new revenue, which could presumably be used to finance the project.

'A five-year fix'

Even so, the county may still need to build a new jail down the road.

"This would be a five-year fix," said sheriff's department administrator Larry Lowman, although his boss -- Sheriff Randall Boyce -- said it could actually meet the county's needs for longer.

"We could possibly get a 10-year fix out of it," said Boyce, especially if the top floor of the hospital were eventually renovated as well to be used to house DUI and other non-violent offenders.

Commissioner Mark Thomas, however, noted that the adaptation of an old bottling plant as a county workhouse five years ago was also supposed to buy the county 10 years before a new jail was needed.

The old hospital, on Union Street, became vacant last year when its operations moved to a new facility, Heritage Medical Center, on U.S. 231.

Lowman broke down the $1.9 million in estimated annual revenue:

• $587,000 from housing additional male felons at the existing jail, in the space created by moving out female inmates;
• $1,349,040 in net revenue from housing female inmates;
• $638,820 from taking over commissary operations at the jail and workhouse. Those operations are currently outsourced, but Lowman said the added administrative space would allow them to be done by the sheriff's department itself.

That adds up to $2,575,510 in revenue. Subtract $672,000 for the 24 additional staff members who would be required, and the net profit, according to Lowman, would be $1,903,510.

The sheriff's department claims that it makes a profit by housing felons for the state. County Finance Director Robert Daniel said his figures show that the county spends $38.50 per inmate per day and receives only $35 from the state. Lowman said Daniel's figures are taking into account a part of the sheriff's department budget, including funds which would have to be spent anyway, whether there was an inmate or not.

Change needed

Regardless of whether the project will pay for itself, officials say some sort of change is needed. The current jail is said to be overcrowded, and there is no work program for female inmates, a potential legal problem. Lowman said Rutherford County was forced to create such a program for its female inmates.

The fear is that the state will decertify the jail or that a federal lawsuit against the county by or on behalf of an inmate would force the county's hand. It was just such a lawsuit, in the mid-1980s, that led to construction of the current jail. County officials say a federal court has the power to implement its own solution, whatever the cost, and force the county to pay for it.

"I personally worry more about the feds than about the state," said Boyce.

Solid construction

KBJM and ORA officials say the hospital building is in good shape and that its construction, without interior load-bearing walls, lends itself to renovation. Two areas of the hospital were even built so that they could be expanded upward if necessary, adding additional floor space.

The hospital's boiler and air conditioning units are at the end of their useful life and would have to be replaced with a heat pump system, said the architects. New exhaust systems, circuit breakers and fire protection sprinklers would be needed.

Tennessee Corrections Institute officials, who are responsible for certifying or decertifying jails for the state, have visited the hospital building and met with the architects.

"They seem to think it's feasible from a corrections standpoint," said Cheney.

Commissioner Linda Yockey moved that the proposal be studied further and that the two committees hold another joint meeting to review the results. Daniel said that the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service could review the proposal. The committees approved Yockey's motion.

Thomas, in whose district the hospital is located, told the Times-Gazette he would like to hear from his constituents about their feelings on the issue.

Meanwhile, Circuit Court Clerk Thomas Smith was not present Tuesday night to give any updates about the proposal that the county buy the Regions Bank building on the square, lease the first floor back to the bank, and put courtrooms and clerk's offices on the other floors.

Wrecker bids

In separate law enforcement committee business, bids were opened for the service of transporting and storing vehicles seized by the county. All of the bids were low -- the lowest, from Wright's Wrecker Service, proposed to charge the county only $1 per vehicle -- apparently because the winning bidder can expect to make most of its money, not from the county, but from those owners who are eventually allowed to reclaim their vehicles.

Daniel said the bids should have been handled through his office, under the requirements of the Financial Management Act of 1981. The law enforcement committee voted to refer the bids to Daniel and to the Financial Management Committee, which can decide which bid to accept when it meets next week.