by Leah Justice
leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com
Polk County Commissioners have received requests for proposals from four corporations interested in conducting a study to determine the future of the jail.

Commissioners met Jan. 5 and set a work session for Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. prior to the commissioner meeting at 7 p.m.

Polk received proposals from ADW Architects, Hemphill Randel Assoc. Inc., LaBella Associates and Moseley Architects-Charlotte. All firms are located in Charlotte.

The work session will be for commissioners to discuss which firm will best meet Polk’s needs.

Commissioners first began discussing the future of the jail during a work session in October 2014.

Polk’s jail, located at 40 Ward St., Columbus, has 25 beds and often has 40 or more inmates at a time. The jail was completed in 1974.

The county currently contracts with the Transylvania County Jail to house overflow inmates, including all women and juvenile inmates, which Polk County cannot house.

During Polk’s Dec. 1 meeting, commissioner Keith Holbert said he would like included in the study the possibility of housing state and federal inmates so the county can determine if they want to include cells for those prisoners.

Commissioner Michael Gage said he would like to include the possibility of Polk housing minors and females.

The RFP states that Polk County is interested in determining jail needs for the next 25 years.

Polk has asked consultants to conduct a needs assessment to determine the inmate population projections for five, 15 and 25 years and the number of beds needed for each study period; projections for staffing and direct and indirect costs and supervision alternatives; conduct a site analysis based on the population projections to determine whether the existing site is feasible for the ultimate size of the facility and if so, where the facility optimally needs to be placed; conduct an assessment of the jail “core” spaces to include space for administrative, intake/processing, laundry, inmate storage, dry goods storage, employee break room areas, training and food service areas to determine the appropriate size for the anticipated ultimate capacity for the new jail; review all detention contracted services to evaluate if the county is getting the best available service, commission or rates offered; provide a facility program of spaces with sizes and relationships; provide a visual conceptual floor and site plan of each option and to provide a total cost estimate for each option developed.

Since 2012, Polk has spent a total of $195,628 (as of October 2014) housing inmates in other counties. The number of inmates processed at Polk’s jail has also increased significantly over the past few years, with 715 processed in 2011 and 926 processed as of October 2014. There were 687 inmates processed in 2013, according to sheriff’s office records.

A study of all Polk’s facilities was done in 2006 and determined the sheriff’s office and the jail had serious issues then. The study discussed parking being unsecure, issues with filing and storage cabinets, inadequate kitchen space and inadequate magistrate office.

The county has spent significant funding upgrading the jail over the past few years and has scored poorly with both state and health department inspections.

During the Jan. 5 meeting, commissioner chair Tom Pack said he wants the sheriff’s office to have a couple copies of the RFPs and suggested the workshop, saying commissioners could come up with a list of questions and comments to ask the firms. Commissioners said during the work session they could possibly narrow the firms down to two from which to choose.

Pack said the county needs to start working on a game plan of which firm commissioners think they want to do the feasibility study.

“I want to keep the thing moving,” Pack said. “I don’t want it to die.”