Jail details locked up
LISA JAMES/PressKootenai County Jail inmates congregate on April 3. The jail has been at maximum capacity in 2017. County commissioners voted Thursday on the budget for a jail expansion project.
LISA JAMES/PressA Kootenai County Jail inmate uses the stairs to do pushups on April 3. The jail has been at maximum capacity in 2017. County commissioners voted Thursday on the budget for a jail expansion project.
LISA JAMES/PressKootenai County Jail inmates sit in a shaft of sunlight away from the group on April 3. The jail has been at maximum capacity in 2017. County commissioners voted Thursday on the budget for a jail expansion project.
LISA JAMES/PressKootenai County Jail inmates congregate, while some read in their bunks, on April 3. The jail has been at maximum capacity in 2017. County commissioners voted Thursday on the budget for a jail expansion project.
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County’s jail is officially ready to grow.
Sletten Construction Co. on Thursday submitted a guaranteed maximum construction price of $10.49 million for the 114-bed expansion.
"We're happy to let you know that we've come in under the budget by $300,000," Dan Eden, Sletten's vice president, told county commissioners.
The total cost of the project, including design and building fees to the city of Coeur d'Alene, will be about $12 million.
Construction is expected to start June 12 and take 14 to 16 months to complete. The project will not increase taxes because it will be built with the county's surplus funding.
The expansion will increase the jail's capacity to 441 beds.
County commissioners are expected to approve the contract with Sletten at Tuesday's business meeting.
"It was a long road to get to this point," Commissioner Marc Eberlein said. "This was in the original design of the jail to be done at some point. We have the cash to be able to do this."
Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said the project's launch is bittersweet.
"It's a great start," he said. "Something needed to be done 10 years ago. I think that it is beyond necessary. We spend $130,000 each month to house inmates out of county, so this is long overdue."
However, Wolfinger said he's concerned the jail will be at capacity the day it opens.
"I don't think it will be big enough," he said. "In the past six months we have averaged more than 400 (inmates per day) and we've already hit 439."
When the number of inmates exceeds the facility's capacity, extra inmates are placed on portable and stackable plastic bunk-style beds with mattresses.
Wolfinger said he has encouraged commissioners to not build to a dollar amount, but to a future need.
The project will include a 10,000-square-foot shell for another future expansion that will include an additional 108 beds. Eden estimates the cost to build that out would be $3.5 million to $4 million.
"We don't need it at this point in time," Eberlein said. "We're trying to keep the cost down as much as possible."
Shawn Riley, the county's building and grounds director, said getting construction started will be a relief.
"This has been a year-plus of planning, culminating in finally having all of the bids," Riley said. "Hopefully it will be approved on Tuesday and we'll be off and running."
Eden estimates Sletten has worked on 50 jail projects since the 1980s.
"Our specialty is working around active facilities," he said.
Eden said about 20 subcontractors will work on the project, putting about 150 people to work.
Eberlein said he was pleased the construction amount came in lower than anticipated. He said if the expansion is built under the maximum price, the county and Sletten will split the savings as part of a contingency in the contract.
"This is why we chose this company," he said. "They have a great track record and this is what they specialize in."