TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

No Facts Offered On Proposed Sheriff's Office

ADVERTISEMENT

By RON GRIMMING Guest Columnist

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

The citizens and taxpayers of Highlands County deserve to be fully informed about the proposed new Highlands County Sheriff's Office complex. Recent attempts to justify the building have been less than forthcoming about both the cost and justification.

A 2006 needs assessment study is used as justification by the sheriff and others to build the new office. However, what has not been communicated to the public is that the needs assessment relies primarily on projected population growth as justification for the new office facility, and does not describe or detail current building deficiencies. It appears the spatial needs are based upon what the sheriff wants as opposed to what the sheriff needs.

Although the sheriff's chief of staff has stated that a review of existing facilities in the county was conducted, the needs assessment study does not reference any review/consideration of other facilities. The only options discussed in the consultant's recommendations are site locations for a new building.

We are being told that the cost of the new sheriff's building is $11.1 million dollars, but we have not been told that does not include $1.2 million for consulting, engineering, architectural, and permitting fees, $1.3 million for projected sewer costs, and $2.8 million dollars in finance charges to fund the project over a 10 year period. The total cost to taxpayers will exceed $16.4 million dollars.

It is easy to understand why the sheriff's office is trying to minimize the financial impact of this total project. The new office building ($16.4 million) and the jail expansion will exceed $80 million. Although the sheriff and other county officials have stated that only the office component has been approved, then why does the county have the proposed $64 million dollar jail expansion listed on their capital financial strategy plan?

The nearly 50,000-square-foot office building is too expensive, over built, not in an optimal location, and in our current fiscal environment could not be happening at a worse time. There are less expensive alternatives that should be considered and more fully explored before taxpayers are asked to pay for this huge expense.

As an example, a number of workspaces allocated for the new structure are indicated on the plans for patrol deputies and supervisors who should very seldom be in the headquarters building. It certainly makes no sense those deputies patrolling Avon Park or Lake Placid should be required to drive to an office in Sebring when they have computers in their patrol cars. The advantage of computers in patrol vehicles is to allow deputies to remain in their cars patrolling our communities, and responding to calls for service from the public.

The proposal to move court services away from the courthouse complex makes no sense at all. Dedicating a conference room to accreditation is ludicrous. There are numerous other examples of space that could be eliminated or consolidated, saving thousands of square feet and millions of dollars in costs. Cost consideration should be paramount, especially in these uncertain economic times. The fat needs to be cut out of this project. This is taxpayers' money, not the sheriff's.

To compound the concerns associated with this project, the county recently announced an invitation to contractors to respond to a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to determine eligibility to build the new facility. The RFQ language requires that contractors who respond to the request for consideration to build the new facility must have built: "at least two correctional/detention facilities, law enforcement, emergency management, and/or courthouse facilities within the last 5 years." In all likelihood, this provision will eliminate from consideration any Highlands County contractor.

It is my experience that a law enforcement office building is not that unique, and with the proper architectural and engineering plans, local contractors could successfully build this facility, or renovate an existing facility. This observation is based upon 35 years as a law enforcement professional, with experience and participation in the planning, renovation, and new construction of numerous law enforcement buildings.

In our current economic environment, Highlands County contractors, construction workers and building material suppliers are suffering. If this project does move forward, less expensive alternatives should be considered, and we should do everything possible to keep our tax money in Highlands County, and not have it go to contractors from outside our area.

The bottom line, when taxpayers are hurting, losing their homes and jobs, and paying $4 per gallon for gasoline, government should feel their pain, and must cutback and learn to do with less.

The following are a couple of observations and recommendations that will save taxpayers a bundle:

Sheriff's Office Complex

If converting shopping centers to schools and classrooms is good enough for our children, it should be good enough for a sheriff's office complex. The old Food Lion in Sebring has been successfully converted to a kindergarten facility at minimal cost. Go check out the Sebring Police Department, what a wonderful first-class facility they made out of an older building. How about the many police/ sheriff headquarters facilities that have been located at shopping centers and bank buildings? Facilities like these could be converted to a very nice sheriff's office for a lot less than $16 million dollars, and provide work to our local tradesmen.

Jail Expansion

Call Sheriff Joe in Arizona, he is an experienced sheriff and law enforcement administrator, he can give you some tips on how to save money and house prisoners. Using a barracks style/ work camp facility will be much less expensive to build, and provide an opportunity to expand inmate work/farm programs, cutting costs of maintaining prisoners, and providing inmate labor for community projects.

It is in taxpayers' best interest that this project be scaled back to a more affordable level. The Board of County Commissioners is encouraged to delay authorization until after the November election and let citizens have a voice as to whether they want a $16 million office building built.

Ron Grimming is a Republican running against Democratic Sheriff Susan Benton in the November general election. He lives in Lake Placid.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT