WINONA, Minn. – The County Board voted 3-2 to approve designs for an 80-bed jail to replace the condemned facility in the present Law Enforcement Center. The county nowcan seek bids as soon as the architectural firm Klein McCarthy completes final construction details at the end of July. The vote:
> In favor: Marie Kovesci, Chris Meyer and Greg Olson.
Against: Steve Jacob and Marcia Ward.
Jacob and Ward, perennial fiscal conservatives, have balked for years at the cost of a new jail – now pegged at $25.6 million. Considering that the state Corrections Department has threatened to decertify the existing jail, there was little choice but to go ahead.
Naysayers’ alts
For years Jacob and Ward opposed a new jail on budget grounds. One of their alternatives was a smaller 60-bed jail, but projections came in andplaced inmate census at 69 by 2028. In the Board’s discussion Tuesday, Jail Administrator Steve Buswell cautioned against repeating the county’s mistake when the current jail was built in 1977 and became substandard almost right away. Too, Jacob and Ward argued in recent months to save money by going without any jail at all and housing inmates in neighboring counties. It turned, however, that transportation and logistics would be not only problematic but more expensive than a new jail. Even so, they opposed the jail project to the end.
Jacob. Never met a tax dollar he didn’t resent.
Ward. Null and void too.