Web posted
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Committees worked hard to design jail and make it a reality
By DAVE SEATON
Winfield Publishing
Editors Note: This is the third in a series of articles about the new jail recently opened in Winfield.
A series of citizen committees studied the Cowley County Jail over more than a decade before it became a reality.
All of those committees recommended replacing the jail with a new one.
Sheriff Bob Odell, who accompanied the entire process, praises the citizens who served. "I can't say enough about the job those people did. They made a great contribution," Odell said.
County Commissioner Dick Bonfy also served during this period. "All those committees added something," Bonfy said.
Roger Black, of Arkansas City, served on the first committee, which convened in 1993 and recommended further study. He said he was glad its recommendations let the county put off by 10 years spending $10 million on a new jail.
Lloyd Clarkson, of Winfield, also a member, agreed. "We may have gained from not building a jail at that time," he said. "Now we have a good one."
The second citizens committee was appointed in May 2001.
Among its members were Larry Bland, Terry McClure and Allen Miller, of Burden, Ronnie Whiteman, of Cambridge, and John Adams and J.R. Jimeson, of Udall.
Glen Clarkson and John Riggs came to the committee from Arkansas City. Larry Dobbs and Kevin Coon served from Winfield.
This committee recommended a judicial center near Strother Field. The commission took no immediate action on this recommendation.
A third committee was appointed in the fall of 2002.
It endorsed the recommendations of the second committee, without the judicial center. This led to the proposal, along with a 3/4-cent countywide sales tax, that was rejected by voters in June 2004 Terry McClure, Burden police chief, chaired the third committee. Among the members were Winfield Police Chief Larry Dobbs, jail administrator Steve Roberts, Glenn Clarkson and Chuck Batchelor, of Arkansas City, and Brad Mehlinger, of rural Cowley County.
Sheriff Odell, County Commissioner Randy Storey and Robert Wilson, of Arkansas City, served as non-voting members.
Finally, approval
The proposal voters finally approved in June 2005, with its 1/2-cent countywide sales tax, was developed by the commission with input from Odell, Alsup, Roberts and architect Mike Fickle. The proposal was informed by input from the public at a series of meetings, Odell said.
The last committee to be appointed, the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, followed voter approval of $10 million in bonds for the new jail.
Its members included Bob Tyler, Tod Gentry, Jeremy Biddle, Craig Duncan, Phil Jarvis and Emmalee Conover, of Winfield; Bob Mathews and Joe Woodward, of Arkansas City; Jim Sphar, of Atlanta, and Jim Bradley, of Dexter. County Administrator Leroy Alsup was a key member but not the committee's official chair.
Duncan, now chair of the board of CornerBank, was a member. He praised Alsup's leadership. "Even though there were differences of opinion," Duncan said, "everyone was pretty much in favor of the end result."
That result was adding 44 inmates to the new jail's capacity and increasing its total estimated cost to $11,500,000. The County Commission adopted this recommendation unanimously.
Tyler said recently he was not satisfied with this outcome but had come to accept it. "I hope it will work out."
From the beginning, in spite of delays, some citizen committee members agreed with Sheriff Odell that a new jail would some day be built.
Leonard Richardson, of Winfield, who served on the first committee chaired by Dorothy Flottman, said he and other members felt their recommendations, which opposed remodeling the existing jail and called for further study of a new one, would eventually lead to action. "It was a little bit iffy," Richardson said, "but we felt it would go ahead."
Randy Emerson, who ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2004, opposed building a new jail near Strother Field and urged a site near the courthouse. He said
last week he was pleased with the new jail. "I think it's great what they've done."
Emerson has filed to run for sheriff this year.
Undersheriff Don Reed has also filed to run.
Odell has announced his retirement at the end of 2008.
County Commissioner Carmelita Clarkson said she was impressed with the new jail. Although parking for the public remains a problem, she said, "The surveillance is good. Things will be much better."
The other current County Commissioner Gary Wilson could not be reached for comment.
Former State Bank Building
The two-story Georgian building across 10th Avenue south of the courthouse was built by the First Community Savings & Loan Association and later was acquired by the State Bank, now Union State Bank.
The purchase of that building was part of the bond issue approved by voters in 2005. The price was $725,000.
Space for the appraiser's office and the extension service was needed, Alsup said, because plans called for tearing down the east wing of the courthouse where those offices are located.
It developed that the first phase of the jail was built on the courthouse site without tearing down those offices. As a consequence, no administrative offices have yet been moved to the bank building. It is used only for temporary gatherings and storage.
The building will be needed in the future, Alsup said. He likened it to the
Baden Square campus owned by the City of Winfield. That campus has been developed and largely reused over the past 15 years or so.
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