Franklin County, Tenn., officials recently approved an almost $8 million bond issue to fund a long-awaited expansion of the county’s jail, but the cost estimate over the last year increased by more than $5 million.
County Mayor Richard Stewart on Tuesday said the increase came after a fire marshal said the number of beds should be boosted and officials determined other security- and operations-related items should be updated along with the increased size of the facility.
County commissioners earlier this month expressed some shock at the jump from a preliminary cost estimate in 2016 of around $8 million to $14.62 million, Stewart said. He said commissioners’ shock was largely a result of a lack of communications among all parties on what kind of security and facilities upgrades had been included since last year.
After detailing expansion needs since last year, “they needed to add quite a bit, and they took the plans to the fire marshal and he said there’s not enough beds,” Stewart said.
Then officials determined the jail and the Judicial Center’s security door systems needed to match. The additional beds also required larger capacity in the kitchen and laundry, and other needed updates were made part of the current project so shortcomings don’t arise too soon, he said.