Wood County Board of Supervisors Passes Resolution for New County Jail

Wednesday, August 18th, 2021 -- 11:01 AM

(Hub City Times) At their August meeting, the Wood County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to allow for the borrowing of $61.5 million, to provide for the construction of a new county jail.

According to the Hub City Times, in June, the Wood County Board approved the $58 million jail project, passing both a resolution to approve the project and one to borrow up to $58 million to pay for it. District 9 Supervisor William Winch was the lone “no vote” for both resolutions.

The amount will pay for the design, construction, acquisition of land, and equipment for the project, including the demolition of the existing jail, once the new jail is constructed.

The remaining $3,500,000 of the $61.5 million to be borrowed will be used for highway and capital improvement projects, which was approved by the board in July.

There were questions regarding the lumping of the two items into one resolution, instead of having the jail project and highway/CIP borrowing separated into two resolutions. The resolution to borrow the $61.5 million passed 18-1.

Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker said in an earlier interview with the City Times that a jail study indicated the facility would need over $5 million in updates/repairs and did not adequately fit current inmate needs. Parts of the jail facility were built in the 1950s and added onto in the late 1980s.

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