COUNTY BOARD APRIL MEETING
$16.7M Upgrades
Proposed For Jail
32-Cell “Pod” Would Let One Officer
Survey Whole Block From One Post
By JIM KEVLIN • for www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – An engineering firm specializing in prisons this morning proposed $16.8 million in renovations and expansions to the 25-year-old Otsego County Correctional Facility at The Meadows, including a futuristic 32-cell “pod” addition , to the county Board of Representatives.
Which begged the question, and county Rep. Len Carson, R-Oneonta, asked it: “What would it cost to build a new facililty?”
The answer from Mark Kukuvka, representing Labella Associates of Rochester: $35 million, if one now being built by Herkimer County were the model.
Short of a new prison, Kukuvka outlined three options:
- A 25-year renovation, upgrading the mechanicals, replacing plumbing and electrical systems, and bringing it up to codes for the handicapped, $4.9 million. “It’s a solid building, but it’[s time to consider putting some money into your asset,” Kukuvka said.
- Programmatic renovations and additions, to adjust the building to uses that have been added and subtracted. The medical cells, for example, are not being use as exam rooms. There was no road patrol 25 years ago, and that’s taken over other space. And the 911 Center is moving to the county complex on upper Main Street next month. $3.9 million.
- The 32-cell housing “pod,” a triangular addition to the northwest corner of the current structure, $7.9 million. Instead of a handful of officers having to patrol the current corridors, one officer would be able to survey the whole pod. Inmates could exercise in the common area; now, they have to be taken outside.
Sheriff Richard J. Devlin, Jr., advised the representatives there is no immediate need to expand or build new, and that he had opened conversations with Labella, which has worked with all but a handful of counties statewide, to look ahead, to see what may be coming down the road.
The Commission on Corrections requires counties to maintain 30 percent extra capacity in their jails, in the event of events that might create a sudden demand. The Otsego jail has 100 cells, and Kukukva showed data suggestion the county is within parameters.
County Rep. Gary Koutnik, D-Oneonta, pointed out, “we’re losing people. But the rate of incarceration is going up.” What’s the trend? he asked.
Kukukva said that’s another service Labella can provide, a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Survey. “Let’s just not build for the sake of building,” he said.
No decision was made or vote taken today.
Otsego County could not afford Otsego Manor which provided employment for many people in the county and provided for our elderly. Why should we provide more for inmates than we could for our elderly? As Sheriff Devlin indicated an upgraded facility should not be considered at this time.
I am always skeptical of an “expert” consultant or engineering firm that provides data and draws conclusions on inaccurate or just plain incorrect information. I see that Mr. Kukuvka states there was no road patrol 25 years ago when the current jail was designed and built. Well as a living testament to the fact that there WAS an active effective and operating road patrol of 6 to 7 deputies including, marine (boat patrol) deputies, K-9 officers and divers, I am not certain where he obtained his information. This gross oversight of easily obtained information draws into question the accuracy of his reports and his companies credentials.