Seeking to educate

Jail referendum website goes live, offers information

A new website aimed at educating the voters of Webster County about the upcoming bond referendum for a proposed new jail facility has been launched.

Last month, the Webster County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for a $45.5 million bond referendum Nov. 7 to build a new jail to replace the existing overcrowded and outdated jail on the third floor of the Webster County Law Enforcement Center.

Created by The Samuels Group, the West Des Moines-based consulting firm assisting the county with the bond referendum campaign, webstercountyvote.com contains a bevy of information about the proposed jail project.

At the top of the home screen is the portal to the answers that many, if not most, voters want to know -- "How much will this cost me?"

The "Tax Impact" link will take users to a page where they can find the parcel number for their property and plug it into a calculator to find out the estimated property tax impact in whole numbers, using the actual taxable valuation of the property.

For example, a residential property in the Oleson Park neighborhood with an assessed valuation of $54,280 and a taxable valuation of $29,664, would see an annual property tax impact of $35.60 for the jail bond referendum, according to the website. That comes out to about $2.97 per month.

A residential property near Feelhaver Elementary School with an assessed valuation of $353,790 and a taxable valuation of $193,346 would see an annual impact of $232.02, or $19.33 per month, according to the website.

A commercial property along Fifth Avenue South with an assessed valuation of $443,460 and a taxable valuation of $346,089 would have an annual impact of $415.31, or $34.61 per month.

An agricultural property of about 40 acres near Harcourt with an assessed valuation of $50,840 and a taxable valuation of $46,591 would see an annual tax impact of $55.92, or $4.66 per month.

In addition to the website, several community information meetings will be held throughout October and the first week of November. The first meeting will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Webster County Fairgrounds Auditorium. An optional tour of the existing jail will be offered following the meeting, from 2 to 4 p.m.

"Our goal is to educate the citizens of Webster County on the growing cost of our out-of-county housing cost," said Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener. "Please attend one of the town hall meetings to be informed."

The need

The Webster County Vote website highlights the concerns involving safety risks, inmate capacity, inmate transfer costs, county liability, programming, design and existing conditions that point toward the need for a new jail.

The current jail on the third floor of the Webster County Law Enforcement Center was built in 1983 and has a capacity of 56 inmates. According to Fleener, the county has an average of 75 to 90 inmates in custody every day. Due to inmate classification rules by the Iowa Department of Corrections, the jail can have fewer than 56 inmates and be considered at capacity as well.

Over the last five years, Webster County has spent roughly $1.4 million to house inmates out of the county. That number includes the daily cost charged per inmate by the hosting jail, as well as transportation costs and salary costs for deputies to transport inmates.

Whether the bond referendum passes or not, Webster County taxpayers will be footing the bill for the cost of housing county inmates somewhere -- it's just a matter of whether that taxpayer money will stay in Webster County.

According to Fleener, there are approximately 1,012 individuals waiting to serve time for various offenses, totaling 7,398 days. Inmates serving sentences for convictions are required to pay $100 per day in housing costs. That's more than three quarters of a million dollars that the Webster County Sheriff's Office has been unable to collect. Those individuals' cases also remain open in the courts until their sentences are discharged.

There are also several existing safety concerns about the current jail's floor plan that also contribute to the need for a new facility, Fleener and the Samuels Group have said. The existing design is a "linear layout," which has long hallways and acute angles that create blind spots and require closed circuit television to maintain constant visual surveillance of the cells.

The design for the proposed new jail is for a 60,692-square-foot facility that would house both the jail and the Sheriff's Office. The jail would have 61 general population cells double bunked and eight special needs cells with one bunk, totalling 130 beds. The facility would also include space for jail administration, Sheriff's Office administration, patrol, investigations and civil processing.

Residents can also keep up to date on the referendum campaign on the Facebook page "Webster County Vote."

Community information meetings

1 p.m. Oct. 1, Webster County Fairgrounds Auditorium, 22770 Old Highway 169

6 p.m. Oct. 2, Badger Fire Department, 150 Second St. S.E., Badger

6 p.m. Oct. 3, Otho City Fire Department, 200 Rake St., Otho

5:30 p.m. Oct. 4, Fort Dodge Middle School Auditorium, 800 N. 32nd St.

1 p.m. Oct. 15, Friendship Haven Tompkins Celebration Center, 420 Kenyon Rd.

1 p.m. Oct. 17, Gowrie Community Center, 1206 Market St.

6 p.m. Oct. 17, Dayton Community Center, 104 First St. N.W.

5:30 p.m. Oct. 18, Fort Dodge Middle School Auditorium, 800 N. 32nd St.

6 p.m. Oct. 19, Clare Community Center, 203 N. Hood St., Clare

1 p.m. Oct. 21, Friendship Haven Tompkins Celebration Center, 420 Kenyon Road.

5:30 p.m. Nov. 2, Fort Dodge Middle School Auditorium, 800 N. 32nd St.

2-4 p.m. Nov. 4, Webster County Jail tours, 702 First Ave. S.

Additional tours of the existing jail will be offered from 2-4 p.m. on Oct. 1, Oct. 15 and Oct. 21.