Acknowledging that there are obstacles to overcome before a shared jail with Orleans County is a reality, Genesee County Manager Matt Landers today said the firm hired to design a proposed 184-bed facility is being called upon to update its study.
“Even though the study we had done that was the basis for the design work on the jail is only about three-, three-and-a-half years old, a lot has happened in those three-, three-and-a-half years,” Landers said during the Genesee County Legislature’s Public Service Committee meeting at the Old County Courthouse. “So, we are having SMRT (the architectural firm) update the study.”
Not much has been said about the jail in recent months as the county – as well as the entire nation – has been dealing with COVID-19 and budgetary concerns stemming from the pandemic.
In June, Landers reported that the county closed on the land acquisition – a parcel just east of County Building 2 on West Main Street Road – and the schematic designs of the jail were complete.
The county has contracted with SMRT and Pike Company Inc., the construction manager, for about $2.3 million and $1 million, respectively.
Landers said discussions with Orleans County officials have resumed, and they are encouraged by wording in the New York State budget “that seems to make it easier for counties to share a jail.”
“NYSAC (New York State Association of Counties) has indicated that when they advocated for this budget, they were actually looking at us, specifically, as a possibility (for a shared jail),” he said. “We’re hoping that the governor’s office will be able to assist us with additional funding.”
Originally, the plan was to build the jail in the fall of 2019 – 184 beds with a maximum population of 144. Landers said he’s not so sure that 184 is the right number now.
“Because of the bail reform, and the reformed bail reform, and current environment, we want to have an updated number,” he said. “When people were asking me, ‘Matt, why are we looking at a jail at 184 beds?’ I want to say that we had a study done by people who do this for a living.”
He said an update of the study will “kill two birds with one stone” as it will determine the jail bed needs for both Genesee and Orleans counties, and he doesn’t anticipate a lot of extra work to update the report.
“It’s something that we really should do anyway for our own bed needs. We, at the same time, are monitoring the state budget … and working with Orleans County and looking at the vast number of hurdles that are still out there,” he said.
Landers said if all goes well, a groundbreaking could come in the spring of 2022, but “it will take further discussion with the legislature, building consensus on the size and scope (of the project).”
