Weber County mayors, police chiefs back $98M jail bond ballot question
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- Teresa Bramwell of Ogden addresses Weber County Commissioners on a proposed $98 million bond plan to upgrade the Weber County Jail at a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2023. From left, the commissioners are Jim Harvey, Gage Froerer and Sharon Bolos.
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- Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon addresses Weber County Commissioners on a proposed $98 million bond plan to upgrade the Weber County Jail at a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2023. From left, the commissioners are Jim Harvey, Gage Froerer and Sharon Bolos.
OGDEN — The proposed upgrade of the Weber County Jail and construction of a new four-story Weber County Sheriff’s Office facility has wide support among county leaders and law enforcement officials.
Ogden Police Chief Eric Young and the leaders from seven other police departments across the county have signed a statement of support for the plans, focus of a $98 million bond question that’ll be put to voters on the November election ballot. If approved, the bonding would require a property tax hike that would boost taxes on a home worth $468,000, the average in Weber County, by $54.09 a year.
“Every chief I’ve spoken to supports it,” Young said.
Likewise, 13 of the 15 mayors across the county — including Mike Caldwell in Ogden, Bob Dandoy in Roy, Rob Vanderwood in West Haven and Russ Porter in South Ogden — have signed a separate statement of support. “We recognize that it is time to invest in improved Weber County correctional facilities in order to help the sheriff provide services mandated by law and reduce liability,” reads the letter.
The jail bond proposal was the focus of a public hearing on Tuesday when, likewise, all 14 people who spoke out voiced support for the plans. They included representatives from groups that work with the mentally ill and offenders who get mixed up with the legal system.
Laura Warburton of Live Hannah’s Hope, a nonprofit group formed to reduce suicide and aid those struggling with mental health issues, praised the elements of the plans aimed at helping rehabilitate inmates. The upgraded facility would have expanded medical and mental health operations while inmates, particularly low-level offenders, would have increased access to social services, a change meant to prevent recidivism.
“We’ve done a lot of work for homeless youth, homelessness, and I just think this is the most amazing program,” said Warburton, offering praise to those involved in crafting the plans. “We have an incredible team sitting behind us here, an incredible team of people who want to help and that’s all they want to do.”
Others offered similar words of support, citing struggles their own loved ones have had with drugs and the legal system.
Jill Kofford, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Utah House last year, offered words of support. But she also asked county commissioners to look for ways to cut county spending elsewhere to counter the property tax hike that would result from the jail bonds.
Property taxes “are on an unsustainable trajectory in this state,” she said, noting property tax hikes implemented this year by 78 taxing entities across Utah.
Cutting taxes is “a heavy ask” given inflation and pressure to raise public workers’ wages, she went on. “But I would hope that as a commission that we could just look at that and see if we can help reduce that burden on our taxpayers on some level.”
The jail plans, in the works for the last three and a half to four years, according to County Commissioner Gage Froerer, call for the addition of a 48-bed section for inmates with mental health and medical issues. As is, there are now just six medical cells.
At the same time, a new four-story facility, the Weber Justice Center, would be built on county-owned land on the southwest corner of 12th Street and Depot Drive, north of the existing sheriff’s office. Sheriff’s office administrative and investigative functions would move to the new building. It would also contain a minimum-security facility for inmates in the work-release program and space for social workers from a range of agencies who would help inmates prepare for release from jail and reentry into society.
Minimum-security inmates, until the COVID-19 pandemic, were mainly housed at the five-story Kiesel facility adjacent to the Ogden Municipal Building in the city center.
Porter, the South Ogden mayor, said elements of the jail plans meant to bolster mental health care of inmates and augment programming to aid their reentry into the community figure in the strong support among Weber County’s mayors. “It’s kind of like, why didn’t we think of this earlier?” he said.
The mayors of Ogden, Roy, South Ogden, West Haven, Washington Terrace, Uintah, Pleasant View, Huntsville, Riverdale, Farr West, Hooper, Harrisville and Marriott-Slaterville signed the mayoral letter of support. Porter said he was in the process of reaching out to the mayors of North Ogden and Plain City for their backing.
In the letter of support from police chiefs, they lauded the plan elements to augment mental health and medical care of inmates. Creating more space for those with mental health and other health issues will, in turn, free up space for the general population of inmates. They also singled out the focus on helping inmates prepare for reentry into the community.
“We see clearly that the expanded facilities they are seeking through this bond are critical to the future of Weber County residents who deeply appreciate a safe and stable community to raise their families in,” reads the letter.
It was signed by the police chiefs from Ogden, Harrisville, North Ogden, Pleasant View, Riverdale, Roy, South Ogden and Weber State. The local Utah Department of Corrections adult probation and parole representative also inked it.
The existing Weber County Jail was built in 2000. The upgrade plans stem largely from increased need and demand for better medical and mental health offerings, brought on by the opioid epidemic, among other things, according to sheriff’s officials.
The current facility can’t accommodate “the complexity of the cases” corrections officials face, said Phillip Reese, the sheriff’s office chief deputy.
Sheriff Ryan Arbon said the increased focus in the upgrade plans on inmate mental health needs and reentry preparation parallels a trend in corrections facilities around the nation. The plans would also create more space to handle video court proceedings, reducing the need to transport inmates physically to court.
Online town hall gatherings on the jail plans are set for Thursday and Nov. 2, both starting at 6:30 p.m. Go to tinyurl.com/weberjustice to register to take part. In-person gatherings are set for Oct. 25 and Nov. 8 at the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, 1400 Depot Drive, with each event starting at 6:30 p.m.
Ballots containing the bond question are to be mailed to registered voters by early November. Numerous city contests, including the Ogden mayoral race, will also be on the ballot. Voting ends Nov. 21.