We had heard some grumbling about its considerable cost, and knew that there are always plenty of people who generally think oatmeal and a cold concrete floor are about all incarceration should provide, but we thought it would pass, if by a narrow margin. Nor do we give courtroom attorney Michael MacLachlan all the credit for the jail s defeat. As the county commissioners are considering, we look forward to a survey to determine just why the jail question did so poorly. If the answer is the cost, it is important to remember that saving money got the county into the position it is in. In the mid-1980s a light commercial building in Bodo Industrial Park looked like an easy solution to the jail s cramped location in the basement of the courthouse.
Jails require sensible floor plans, and quality components and construction.
Retrofitting an industrial building did not provide any of the three. There have been some suggestions on the street that whatever the jail s cost, it could be funded by something other than a mill levy. That may be partially possible. The price of the natural gas, mostly coal-bed methane gas, being taken from below the surface of La Plata County increased this fall, and county tax revenues will increase proportionately in a year or so. A use tax on building materials and autos would provide some, but not nearly all, of what is needed.