Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles that examines the different aspects of the proposed new Webster County Jail and the $45.5 million bond referendum that will be on the Nov. 7 ballot.

When a new jail and joint Webster County and Fort Dodge law enforcement center was designed last year, it came with a hefty price tag — $57 million — and came with all the bells and whistles like an indoor firing range, covered fleet parking and a mental health wing.

Upon seeing that number, Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener took another look at the design and began to narrow down the “must haves” and the “would-like-to-haves.”

The first to go was the mental health wing — the state told Fleener that the county could build it, but the state would have to staff it and the state has no intentions to do so. The rest of the frills were cut soon after.

The second design was slimmed down and included a new single-story jail and support areas with administrative office areas for both the sheriff’s department and the FDPD, which was estimated to be about $48 million.

The plans were scaled down even further, to the current iteration of a 60,692 square foot facility that includes just the jail and the Sheriff’s Office administrative and patrol divisions. The total cost of the project — including the acquisition of the land it would be built upon — is capped at $45.5 million.

The project is being designed by The Samuels Group, of West Des Moines, and Venture Architects, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both firms specialize in government buildings like jails.

The county has not yet identified a location for the facility, but Fleener has specified that it would need to be about 15 acres to allow for possible future expansion decades down the road.

“We’ve looked at seven, eight, nine spots that are potentially locations where that 15 acres is available,” Fleener said. “For negotiation purposes, it makes good business sense to first cross the first hurdle, which is do we or don’t we try to do this.”

If the county were to pre-select a location at this time, he said, the landowner would be in a prime spot to raise the price of the land, he said.

Fleener has noted that ideal locations are near Fort Dodge city limits, close proximity to a highway and with existing utility infrastructure. He’s also said that the “podular” design of the proposed jail is such that if, 40 years from now, the Webster County Jail is bursting at the seams with inmates, the county could build what is essentially an exact copy of the jail pod next to the existing one and connect the two with a hallway.

A common question Fleener receives is “what’s going to happen to the FDPD” or the current facility.

The plan is for both the Webster County Telecommunications Center and the Fort Dodge Police Department to expand on the first floor of the LEC, he said. The first floor of the LEC would be remodeled to give both the Telecommunications Center and the FDPD more space. Like the Sheriff’s Office, the FDPD and the 911 center have both outgrown their existing spaces.

The second floor of the LEC would remain as it is now, housing courtrooms, judges offices, Juvenile Court Services and Webster County Emergency Management offices.

The existing jail floor would likely be used for storage for the county, Fleener said.

At one of the informational meetings, a resident asked if it was possible to use the existing jail to house juvenile inmates, who currently have to be sent to the Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center in Eldora. Fleener said that isn’t really an option because the facility would be required to provide educational services and other services that would cost too much. The county would also be required to staff it around the clock, which would mean the need for more jail employees.

Operational and staffing costs of a new facility aren’t expected to be impacted much, Fleener said. The jail may have to hire another food service worker for the kitchen and they may need to hire an additional corrections officer or two, but they’re not expecting a huge spike in new hires if the jail is built, he said.

The final public information meeting about the jail will be tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Fort Dodge Middle School. Tours of the existing jail will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday.