IOWA CITY -- The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is looking into design proposals that would add a new roof, replace HVAC and stablilize the brick exterior of the county jail and sheriff's office.
Staffers have told supervisors the roof leaks every time it rains and the jail's air conditioning system is past its "useful life."
Axiom Consultants of Iowa CIty, which recently completed a structural report on the facility, will investigate the options and associated costs in exchange for a $36,500 payment.
The county supervisors have not committed to any work beyond the initial study.
"We all understand that the brick facade is questionable, but there's really not a real definitive (answer on) what's wrong with it, other than that it's bad. ... We really don't even know what's going on yet to be able to price it," said Dave Curtis, Johnson County's facilities manager.
The study looks only into the needed repairs. It does not address any of the space needs of the jail and sheriff's office. County officials have said for years that the facility is overcrowded and unsafe for inmates and staff.
Conversations about the future of the jail, originally built in 1981, have been going on for more than a decade. The county tried to finance jail improvements through bond referendums in 2012 and 2013 but the measures failed. More than 50 percent of county voters favored the measures, but bond proposals require a 60 percent supermajority to pass.
In July, the supervisors reviewed a completed space needs assessment by Cedar Rapids-based architectural firm Shive-Hattery that outlined a concept for an $80 million office/jail facility with a 140-bed jail.
The supervisors have not decided what to do with that proposal, though some of the county's five supervisors expressed concerns about the proposed jail's capacity. No location has been identified for a new facility.
Given that a new building is likely years away, the supervisors are now grappling with what to do with the aging facility.
One option is to close the jail and transport and house Johnson County inmates in other county jails. In the past, the county has sent inmates to the jails in Linn County in Cedar Rapids and Lee County in Montrose.
That strategy, Supervisor Rod Sullivan said, poses a risk if those jails don't have space for Johnson County inmates.
"I think we're probably at the point that we have to know what that would cost to simply empty the jail," Sullivan said. "Now there's still some issues then with folks who have to work there. But it seems like there that might be easier to mitigate."
Sullivan said supervisors will work with other county staff to figure out whether moving forward with the outlined repairs is the best course of action.
Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz said they've been in discussion with Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel about what it would cost to empty the jail.
Fixmer-Oraiz said that while there are some general figures, it's hard to quantify the costs of doing that.