Sheriff Facility Expansion

Recent newspaper articles have referenced plans to expand the Highlands County Jail in downtown Sebring and build a new sheriff headquarters facility on George Boulevard behind the Agri-Civic Center south of Sebring. These are extraordinarily important and costly budget items. While these issues have been discussed in the newspaper, jail expansion is not in the 10-year capital improvement budget plan, according to county Engineer Ramon Gavarrete.

More importantly, several Sebring City Council members expressed concern that they were not notified of plans to expand the jail in the downtown area. According to the articles, council members Margie Rhoades and Jeff Carlson expressed their concern for the safety of citizens and children in the downtown area, particularly since the expanded jail will be placed in the area between a middle school and the high school. Council members also raised the issue that re-zoning might be required for an expanded jail.

Obviously, and rightly so, city council members felt as though they should have been consulted about a matter with such wide-ranging impact.

When confronted by city council members, the sheriff said it was the county's decision to expand and not hers. That statement, however, is in stark contrast to a Dec. 22, 2005 memo from the sheriff to the Board of County Commissioners, in which commissioners were asked to approve funding for a Law Enforcement and Detention Facility Master Plan, to be developed by a consultant with the goal of expanding the jail, and building a new sheriff's headquarters' facility.

The fact that jail expansion is not in the county's 10-year plan makes this whole issue even more troubling. The justification to build the nearly $13 million new headquarters facility on George Boulevard was to make room for jail expansion. Not only is there no money available for jail expansion, which is projected to cost over $60 million, there is also no money for the new nearly $13 million headquarters building. According to officials the county will have to obtain a loan or bond for the headquarters facility, which will cost taxpayers between $1.4 to $1.8 million per year until it is paid off, which ultimately could impact future generations.

It makes more sense to wait until the county is in a position to include the jail expansion in its 10-year plan, and to have adequate funding before moving forward with the new headquarters, particularly since jail expansion is not in the immediate future.

There are also a number of alternatives to the current jail expansion site location that would be less expensive to taxpayers, and at the same time address the operational and security concerns of the sheriff's office that should be considered before moving forward.

Regardless of the decision, jail expansion and construction of a new sheriff's headquarters must be vetted through all potential stakeholders to include the city of Sebring, Highlands County School District, Community Redevelopment Agency, businesses, 4H Club, other civic organizations, and most importantly the neighborhoods surrounding the planned jail expansion and new headquarters facility.

Ron Grimming
Lake Placid

Editor's note: Ron Grimming has announced he will run for the sheriff's position as a Republican.