COLUMBUS– Polk County is currently on schedule to have a new law enforcement center built by December 2017 as the N.C. Local Government Commission (LGC) gave the county approval this week to seek a loan for the project.

The LGC met Tuesday, Nov. 1 and gave approval to the county to finance the project for up to $13.5 million, according to Polk County Manager Marche Pittman. The county should receive official approval from the LGC by letter prior to the county’s Monday, Nov. 7 meeting, where Pittman plans to announce the approval.

During the county’s last meeting on Oct. 17, Pittman updated commissioners that the application had been delivered to the LGC in Raleigh. Pittman also said there were concerns about a N.C. Department of Insurance inspection, but Rep. Ralph Hise’s office, thanks to commissioner Keith Holbert, helped with that and the county received a letter from the department of insurance.

Pittman also said this week that the county hopes to close on the land the week of Nov. 8. The county has received bids for construction of the new law enforcement center but cannot approve a bid until financing is secured. The county is still on schedule for the new law enforcement center’s construction to be completed in December 2017.

Bids for the center were over budget but Pittman is working with the low bidder to reduce the costs as much as possible.

The low bid came from Cooper Construction out of Flat Rock at $9,878,000, which was approximately $834,544 over the projected construction costs of $9,043,455.

Other bids came in at $9,961,000 from Beam Construction, $9,881,250 from Hickory Construction and $10,570,000 from H&M Construction.

The county has agreed to purchase 19.19 acres off Hwy. 108 just outside Columbus adjacent to the Milliken Plant to build the new law enforcement center, which will include a new jail and sheriff’s office. The purchase price is $1,950,000, which includes site preparation, which has already begun. The county also already purchased 2.6 acres off Park Street for $125,000, which will serve as another entrance to the new jail. The 19.19 acres will include a pad for a future courthouse and other county offices needed in the future.

Once the large parcel transaction closes, the county will have spent $2,075,000 on property acquisition and site preparation for the new center.

The new jail is proposed at a 60-bed facility. The current jail has 25 beds. Built in the early 1970s, the current jail is often over capacity with many inmates being housed in other counties, including females and juveniles, which Polk is currently unable to house. The new jail will be able to house males, females and juveniles.