Construction for the North County Jail might actually end up happening after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the project during a special meeting on May 23, despite bids exceeding the estimated cost by at least $14.75 million.
It’s the latest and most significant step taken to build the jail since the project was initiated in 2011. The county seeks to relieve the current 50-year-old South County facility located on Calle Real in Santa Barbara, which has been wracked by overcrowding and legal actions for years.
The extra expense largely accounts for the bids that came in at least $11 million more for the estimated cost for the jail, plus an extra $500,000 for the offsite utilities building, and a 5 percent construction contingency fee required by the state. In total, the cost for the project exceeds $110 million.
For many in the room, the feeling was essentially now or never. Several local law enforcement officials, both past and present, urged the board to vote for the project.
Voting for any other option—whether to scrap, redesign, or rebid the project—would’ve likely put the project further behind than it already is as well as jeopardized the $80 million AB 900 grant awarded by the state in 2008 that would’ve funded 80 percent of the cost.
“Ironically, the last time I spoke at the county Board of Supervisors meeting, it was about the North County Jail and that was about 20 years ago,” said Chris Nartatez, the interim chief for the Allan Hancock College Police Department. “Here we are again today, still talking about the North County Jail.”
Supervisors chose the third of three funding options presented by its staff: pulling $12.2 million from the project’s general fund, as well as $2 million from the scrapped Sheriff’s transition and re-entry complex, and using $500,000 in contingency funds.
Among the public speakers were some who criticized the Sheriff’s Office incarceration rates, as well as some who slammed the supervisors for spending more than what was originally planned. According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, most inmates come from North County and only 20 percent of the jail’s population is sentenced inmates, Brown said.
“The taxpayers don’t trust government,” said Terri Stricklin, a local restaurant owner and vocal critic of the project. “That’s not news to any of you or anybody in this audience. And the reason they don’t is because a lot of the decisions are pretty poor decisions with our money.”
Brown asked for unanimous approval, but 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr was the lone dissenter. Her contention was that the operational cost for the new facility, starting at close to $18 million, will gradually creep up in the years to come.
“My understanding is that the previous boards didn’t go forward with it because of the cost and that it needed its own dedicated source of funding,” Farr said. “It wasn’t, I think, necessarily for the capital costs. It was for ongoing operations and maintenance cost. It was felt to be just too big of a hit to the general fund without being supported independently by another revenue stream. I’ve come to the sad conclusion that I can’t do that now.
“The costs of the North Branch Jail to build have mushroomed exorbitantly and we haven’t even broke ground yet,” Farr said.
Farr asked Brown what his plans are to refurbish the Main Jail.
He said the most antiquated, the least efficient, and most detrimental spaces would be converted back into closets and storage areas, although he added that those areas would be available for housing if there was a “surge” in the inmate population.
Brown said the new 376-bed jail would take away less than a third of the inmates down south.
“The ability to get back to 85 percent of rated bed capacity would make a much more pleasant environment for inmates and staff alike,” Brown said. “It will help us avoid litigation and costly legal settlements.”
According to Todd Johnson, vice president of the Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, 35 incidents of assaults upon deputies have occurred since Jan. 1, mainly attributed to the overcrowding and understaffing. And in 2015, the county and Corizon Health—the jail’s contracted medical provider—faced several lawsuits stemming from insufficient medical care, a problem that Corizon’s Dr. Woodrow Myers attributed to a “difficult operating environment.”
A draft resolution to award the project to the lowest bidder will be presented to the supervisors on June 21.
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 2, 2016.