Co. Officials Consider Building New Jail, Public Safety Complex

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
OTSEGO COUNTY

County officials are negotiating a contract with SMRT Architects & Engineers to develop designs for a new county jail and public safety complex. The move comes after years of advocacy by local corrections leaders and officers to replace the old jail, built in 1991 and with a design no longer endorsed by state corrections officials.

Graham Vickers of SMRT gave a presentation detailing issues with the current jail and considerations for what a new one would need to members of the County Board of Representatives’ Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee on January 15. He provided a ballpark estimate of $100 million to complete the overall project.

“Your county is not unlike almost all the counties we work with,” Vickers responded to a board member’s question about the steep price tag. “A jail facility is going to be your most expensive project until you build another jail.”

The county’s 2026 adopted budget is $153.5 million.

The case for a new jail has included that the old one is built with an outdated design that is less rehabilitative for incarcerated individuals and under new state rules requires heavier staffing, it is falling into disrepair and does not have enough space for the jail population.

Board members discussed the presentation and what to do next during executive session. Representative Daniel Wilber (R-Burlington, Edmeston, Exeter, Plainfield), the committee chair, told AllOtsego that the county is negotiating contract terms.

“There’s going to be a discussion on that, and a negotiation between the county attorney and the firm,” SMRT, Wilber said. He said this is “phase one” to create “an evaluation of where we need to go, and some architectural planning and facility planning for any potential jail if we go forward.” It does not necessarily mean a new jail would be built, which would also require board approval.

Currently, multiple dorm areas with numerous beds are not in use due to understaffing. The state requires direct supervision from a correctional officer in these spaces, which were not originally built with this in mind.

“That space is pretty much useless to us now,” Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. (R) told board members at the meeting, adding that classifications for different kinds of inmates would make it difficult to house more than a few in the units even if they had the staff to support the direct supervision required.

To reopen and staff it fully, Devlin told AllOtsego, would require 48 officers overall.

“I have 13 current vacancies,” he said, adding that boarding out would still be necessary due to classifications.

New York State’s passage of bail reform resulted in a lower number of people subject to pretrial detention, Vickers explained. “Now, the population you have in your jail doesn’t have that, let’s say, bottom tier of risk of people that could be housed in the dormitory environment,” Vickers said, “instead, they need to be in structured rooms.”

Board members wrestled with the expensive price tags of both the status quo and potential options. The county spent around $1.5 million on renovations for the dorm section only a few years ago.

“I’ll tell you the truth, if I gotta go to Morris and Butternuts and Pittsfield, and tell them that, they will run me out of town on a rail,” said Representative James Powers (R), who represents the towns. Powers expressed hope for making use of the dorms.

During a tour of the jail with AllOtsego the same day, Lt. Thomas Fellrath, who oversees the facility, said 38 inmates were being boarded out to other counties and only 24 were in Otsego County’s own jail. Currently, jails in Delaware, Fulton, Madison, Montgomery, Tioga and Broome counties are boarding individuals on behalf of Otsego County, Fellrath said.

Fellrath estimated the cost to board out these individuals is about $80.00 to $120.00 a day not accounting for any medical or other needs beyond standard support, significantly more expensive than if Otsego County held them. The other counties can also reject requests to board, and are more likely to do so when an incarcerated individual has health or behavioral issues.

At the committee meeting, Devlin said the board-outs cost about $1.5 million per year for Otsego County taxpayers. For 2025, Devlin told AllOtsego, “we are a little over a million dollars for inmate boarding” not including outstanding invoices and “overtime, transportation or additional costs such as medical and mental health services.”

Fellrath told AllOtsego the approach creates significant logistical work and requires many staff hours for officers to transport individuals to and from other facilities. Already understaffed, it increases the amount of overtime officers must do.

The jail itself has also experienced damages. A back hallway, primarily used by kitchen staff, is covered in mildew stains, and, according to an SMRT report, falls outside of the security perimeter of the building. Blacktop, used for outdoor recreation, is directly exposed to the elements and requires frequent repairs. Multiple doors do not work properly. A crack stretches through the walls of the facility. Devlin said the issues were also linked to staffing, citing an incident where he said raw sewage shot up from a drain while an officer was standing above it.