Weber County’s $62.4M jail expansion proposal spurs debate over financing
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- Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon, left, and Chief Deputy Phillip Reese pose outside the sheriff’s office in Ogden on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
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- Plans show the existing Weber County jail footprint, in white. A proposed new medical wing is shown in yellow to the left while two new proposed jail pods are to the right, also in yellow.
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- Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon, left, and Chief Deputy Phillip Reese pose outside the sheriff’s office in Ogden on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
OGDEN — Weber County Sheriff’s Office reps are deep into efforts to spread the word about a proposed $62.4 million upgrade of the jail facility.
“I want to get everyone involved. We want to be transparent,” said Sheriff Ryan Arbon.
The aim of the proposed expansion — focus of study since last June — is to better accommodate inmates’ medical and mental health needs and to address inmate growth. Whatever the case, the price tag and the possibility of a tax hike to help cover the cost could prove to be a sticking point.
Arbon and other sheriff’s office reps have met with a cross-section of leaders across Weber County — elected officials and others — and they’ve also reached out to the varied candidates for office this election cycle. Now, the aim is to get word out to the broader public.
“We need to do something,” Arbon said. The medical wing is constantly packed, the general inmate population surges past capacity at times and the community-release facilities — which had been housed at the Kiesel Avenue facility next to the Ogden Municipal Building — are outdated, he explained.
The $62.4 million figure is causing some to wring their hands, though, even if most agree on the need for improvements at the jail at 1400 Depot Drive, finished and first occupied in 2000.
Pinpointing a funding source for such a dollar amount is no easy task. “That’s the question,” said Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer.
Weber County commissioners would have to sign off on any funding plan since they control the county’s purse strings and Froerer, for one, is leery of assuming too much additional debt. County leaders, he noted, have been refinancing the county’s loans of late to reduce its debt load.
Bonding for additional funds would be a possible route to generate extra funding, but Froerer says he’d only be comfortable pursuing a general obligation bond, which would require a vote of support from the general public. Moreover, he’d only be comfortable bonding for a portion of the upgrade costs, perhaps $20 million to $30 million of the total. He thinks other funding mechanisms aside from bonding need to be considered.
“I just don’t think it’s a good thing to add debt to Weber County’s credit card,” he said.
Arbon understands the questions over financing. He just hopes the focus of the debate doesn’t stray.
“Does the public want to pay for it? That’s the big question,” Arbon said. “This should not be a political issue. It should be about public safety.”
‘PROPER WAY FORWARD’
GSBS Architects of Salt Lake City has been aiding the sheriff’s office in studying jail needs and formulating expansion plans. The current proposal focuses on three areas — expanding jail medical facilities for inmates, building new pods to hold more inmates and building a new work-release facility.
“This is the proper way forward. There’s no reason for us to wait until we’re forced by a government entity,” said Chief Deputy Phillip Reese, alluding to a federal consent decree from the late 1990s that capped the allowable inmate population at the old county jail, leading to construction of the Depot Drive facility.
The medical wing of the jail as now configured contains six cells meant to accommodate 12 inmates. It’s continually crowded, though, with inmates overflowing into a booking area. “Medically, it’s not healthy for them. It’s less than ideal,” said Reese, who helped formulate the plans.
The exam area, meant to handle medical, mental health, dental and psychiatric exams, is also taxed.
The expansion plans call for a new 24,111-square-foot wing to the west of the existing facility that would have an expanded exam area. It would be able to hold up to 42 beds to meet the medical and mental health needs of inmates and an additional 48 beds for general housing of inmates with mental health conditions.
The new medical wing, Froerer said, is “the most critical element” of jail expansion plans, in part to reduce the county’s potential legal liability posed by having taxed medical offerings.
The plans also propose construction of two new pods southeast of the existing facility that between them could house nearly 400 more inmates. The existing facility as originally configured has 888 beds, though guidelines stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have trimmed the capacity to 710-720, a total exceeded late last month.
The five-story Kiesel facility is outdated and work-release operations were actually transferred during the pandemic from that building, now vacant, to the jail on Depot Drive. The Kiesel building “is very old. It’s just got all kinds of issues,” Arbon said.
The new community release building, as proposed, would be a stand-alone facility, possibly on grounds north or southeast of the current jail.
Doing nothing, sheriff’s office officials say they might manage. Facilities would be crowded, though, and they worry they would be able to provide only a minimum level of care, Reese said.