It's good to have a plan, even if you're not really planning on acting on that plan.
It's no secret Monroe County needs a new jail, but it's also no secret the county can't afford $25 million to build either a new jail or justice center.

But the county does have options if the state comes in and tells them the current jail is overcrowded and something needs to be done.
One option was presented by architect Grant Tharpe of Cope Associates during a law enforcement committee meeting Thursday afternoon.

"The price for construction work is rather reasonable right now if you're building something," he said. "McMinn County has looked at jail expansion and what originally was estimated to cost $12 million fell to $8 million. Of course, this is all due to the down economy, so the prices are all over the place. It might be even cheaper tomorrow, but it could also be higher."

The option Tharpe presented Thursday involved building an annex on the old Heilig Myers Furniture site just above the jail on Tellico Street. Tharpe said a 19,000-square-foot structure could be built there and expand the jail's capacity to 320 total prisoners. The jail is currently built to hold 138 prisoners, though it routinely houses between 175-200 prisoners on a daily basis.

"Construction cost would probably be around $3.3 million at current estimates," Tharpe said, "but once you added in furnishing the place, you're probably looking at a final cost somewhere between $4-$5 million."
As with all new structures, the real cost would be staffing and running any new building over the years.

"You need to look at what you'd spend over the next 30 years on running the place," Tharpe said. "Once you add those figures up, the total cost of construction would only be about 8 percent of what you would spend over those 30 years."
Monroe County Mayor Allan Watson admitted it isn't likely Tharpe's recommendation would be acted upon.

"It's a way to keep our plan of action going and keep the state happy," Watson said. "It also gives us something we can do for a much smaller cost if the state tells us we need to do something."
Watson also said the Heilig Myers lot still belongs to Madisonville City, but if a deal ever needs to be worked out there has been talk in the past of the county trading the stone building across the street for the lot.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 442-4575