Topics Of Joint Workshop: Jail Expansion, Sheriff's Building

In January 2008, the Sebring City Council denied the county engineer's proposal to close Eucalyptus Street to through traffic once the Sebring Parkway Phase II is finished for pedestrian safety.

It was then that the council got its first look at plans for a proposed jail expansion.

Although it was beyond the county's 10-year planning, the council took issue with the jail expansion plans that included land purchases and phasing in several new jail housing units without consulting with the city.

This has led to a joint workshop between the Highlands County Board of County Commissioners, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, the city of Sebring and its Community Redevelopment Agency, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, at the county commission chambers.

At the Jan. 15, 2008 meeting, then City Councilman Jeff Carlson, who since was elected to the county commission, reportedly said the city should be involved in any discussions.

City Councilwoman Margie Rhoades expressed concerns about the location of an expanded jail between the Sebring Middle School and Sebring High School.

There will be another issue on the table, according to Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Pete Pollard.

"There are two major issues," said Pollard, "alternatives to relocating the sheriff's administrative facility to the highway, and the city asked the county commission to work with them in terms of long-term plans for jail expansion.

"There is no support of plans to expand the jail in downtown. It's not something we're overly excited about."

Pollard said in order to expand the jail to properties behind the jail as well as along Eucalyptus Street from Fernleaf Avenue to the Sebring Parkway, the county would have to come to the city for zoning changes and to the CRA for design review.

Pollard believed the sheriff's space needs for its administrative offices could be met if the city was able to relocate its City Hall to an empty downtown building, for example the empty 27,000-square-foot former SunTrust building.

The city could, in turn, offer to sell to the county the City Hall property, which encompasses one square block.

Pollard said he has already made overtures by attempting to locate the SunTrust building's owner.

Sheriff Susan Benton said she had not been made aware of any discussion to revise plans for a sheriff's administrative building on George Boulevard.

"I have no idea what they're proposing," said Benton on Tuesday. "They're opposed to further expansion of the jail, I know. No one from the city has communicated with us on this issue at all."

However, County Commission Chairman Edgar Stokes was sent a letter dated Sept. 18, from Council President Pro Tempore John Griffin, stating exactly that.

"This letter is a follow-up to our recent conversation asking for input regarding the possible relocation of the Highlands County Sheriff's Administrative office to George Boulevard," Griffin wrote. "It certainly would be the preference of the city for the Highlands County Sheriff's Office to remain in downtown Sebring.

"If you deem it appropriate, perhaps a joint workshop between the commissioners and the city council could be planned to further discuss this important issue."

It all started with a phone call Griffin received from Stokes.

"He asked, 'How do you guys feel about the sheriff's office moving out to the highway?'" Griffin said Tuesday. "Then the election came up and nothing happened. There are a lot of options. There are a lot of ways we could keep them.

"Why not take all that property behind (the Government Center) and build a three or four-story building with a parking garage and get into the 21st Century. Sebring is the county seat. You'd think you'd discuss something with us before you move out to the highway."

Besides, they could eliminate the $1.5 million expense of running city water and sewer out to the George Boulevard location, he said.

"All we want is to be brought into the loop and discuss it with us," said Griffin. "We just want to help. We're just trying to be of assistance."

Benton reiterated the sheriff's present building is inadequate for its needs. After a two-hour outage several months ago of the Emergency 911 System, experts said the building's infrastructure, its circuitry and power systems cannot handle the requirements of modern technology.

Even the phones went down, Benton said.

Emergency calls were rerouted to Hardee County so no emergency calls were lost. But they had to be relayed to law enforcement by Nextel phones, Benton said.

"We've got to get out of the building," she said. "We needed a minimum of eight acres. (The city property) may be good for the county's needs."

Benton said she can appreciate the city only needs a large space, but plans for the new building have been under way since 2005 to house its crime lab, communications, special operations, patrol, information technology, criminal investigations and special investigations, as well as administrative branch including finance and human resources.

The sheriff's office has already put $3.5 million of its fund balance aside for the last three years and the building is to be funded with the 1-cent sales tax revenue.

The county commission chambers are located at 600 S. Commerce Ave. in Sebring.