ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
First there were six. Then there were three, then five, then four. Now there are five, and soon there will be eight.
It has been hard to keep up with which localities were participating in the future New River Valley Regional Jail over the years it has taken to plan it.
Now that a start on the jail is only six months away, and as the replacement of local jails becomes more urgent and expensive, localities that bailed out in previous years are suddenly eager to jump back in. After a vote Friday, Wythe, Carroll and Floyd counties all are back in the mix.
The jail, scheduled for completion in 1999 on a tract in Dublin Industrial Park, is the last such project in Virginia to qualify for 50 percent state funding. Currently, the General Assembly has placed a hold on any state funding on any type of jail.
The city of Radford and counties of Pulaski, Giles, Floyd, Wythe and Carroll got together several years ago to work on the possibility of a regional jail. To qualify for that 50 percent state construction money, the localities had to complete an in-depth study justifying their project.
No sooner had the expensive study been completed than the state changed the rules, now requiring, in effect, a new study showing additional data. At that point, Floyd County got disgusted and dropped out. Carroll left when some of its residents objected to their county being considered as the jail site. Wythe had anticipated that it would be the location for any regional jail, and dropped out as the geographical midpoint of the participating localities gradually shifted east.
But Grayson and Tazewell counties, although located at some distance from Pulaski County, which was now seen as the best location, expressed interest in joining. Both counties were experiencing increasing problems with aging local jails, and a project with 50 percent state funding suddenly looked good.
Grayson County is still part of the project. Tazewell County eventually dropped out to ponder the possibilities of a regional jail in partnership with some coalfield counties closer to it.
The authority had approached Bland County to gauge its interest in becoming part of the regional jail. Bland replied with a don't-call-us, we'll-call-you letter. In recent months, Bland called and has now been approved as the newest participant.
At the authority's meeting Friday in Radford, the counties of Wythe, Carroll and Floyd all formally asked to rejoin. The authority voted approval of all three, and now the governing bodies of the participating jurisdictions must do the same.
The Floyd County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to hook up with the jail project Oct. 21, after learning it would cost an estimated $2.5 million to build the new local jail it would need.
The regional authority can borrow its part of the construction money and repay it through the per diem costs from participants based on how many prisoners each sends to the jail. The upshot is that the locality has no big expense that probably would require a tax increase or bond issue.
Wythe County's board voted 6-1 at a special meeting Monday to join the authority. Carroll's board made the same decision unanimously Wednesday night.
It will cost each locality about $85,000 to join, to make up for expenses incurred by the existing participants on the various studies and other start-up work. The new counties may request that those fees be deferred until the next fiscal year.
Bill King of Thompson & Litton told the authority that its contract with the engineering firm was outdated by the addition of the three new counties. The firm must resize, rescope and reprogram the project to take additional prisoners into account, he said. "It's an exercise that needs to take place posthaste," he said, and the authority immediately approved it.
All of that will change the cost, now at about $24million, and the 240-bed size of the regional jail. The authority must also get the state Department of Corrections to seek additional money for its 50 percent from the 1997 General Assembly.
"It doesn't jeopardize current funding," said Radford Assistant City Manager Bob Lloyd, the authority chairman. "This is additional funding."
He was optimistic that it would be approved. It is to the project's advantage to have as many participants as possible to exercise economies of scale, which means the state would also be paying less for its share of jail operating costs.
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