And the Law Enforcement Center at 702 First Ave. S. that the jail is located in has constant problems. The basement locker rooms flood. The fire alarm goes off for no reason. Odors from the jail kitchen’s grease trap permeate the building.

Webster County Supervisor Niki Conrad said all those problems and more have been addressed with a series of short term fixes.

“There are only so many bandages we can put on,” she said. “We really exhausted the options.”

“It is more financially responsible to have a new building,” she added.

In 2023, Webster County voters rejected a plan to borrow $45.5 million to build a new 60,692-square-foot Law Enforcement Center that would include a 130 bed jail.

Fort Dodge and Webster County leaders are now trying a different approach to financing and building a new Law Enforcement Center.

The proposal calls for creating a new joint city-county entity called the Webster County Public Safety Authority.

That authority would have the power to borrow money by issuing bonds, according to City Manager David Fierke. He said the new authority would own the Law Enforcement Center, and the city and county would pay rent to the authority. That rent income would be used to pay off the bond debt.

Fierke said that the authority would be operated by a three member board. One member would represent the city, one would represent the county and one would be chosen by both the City Council and the Board of Supervisors to represent both the city and the county.

On Tuesday, both the City Council and the Board of Supervisors will act on measures to establish the authority.

Members of the authority board are expected to be named the week of July 12, according to Fierke.

Ultimately, approval of this concept will be up to the voters during the November general election

If approved, the new building owned by the authority would house the Fort Dodge Police Department, the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, the jail and the 911 dispatch center.

But two big questions have yet to be answered.

The first question: where would the center be located?

While the exact location hasn’t been determined yet, Fierke said it will be in the Fort Dodge city limits. He said that is mandatory because of the city’s participation in the authority.

The second question: what impact will this plan have on taxes?

The answer to that isn’t immediately clear. Fierke said those details will be worked out by late July or early August.

He said there will be a series of public meetings in September and October to explain the entire plan. The location for the new center should be finalized by that time, he added.

The current problems

The current Law Enforcement Center was built in 1982.

‘It’s just not really designed for modern law enforcement,” Police Chief Dennis Quinn said. “It’s just not designed for law enforcement in 2026 and beyond.”

Sheriff Luke Fleener said $100,000 to $150,000 a year is spent on repairs at the center.

The capacity and design of the jail remain major issues.

Jail Administrator Mark Gargano said the facility is capped at 45 inmates. On Friday, 10 inmates were being housed in other county jails, he said.

Fleener said it costs $100 a day to put a Webster County inmate in another county’s jail. That figure, he said, does not include the cost of fuel to transport the inmates.

Because of the lack of jail capacity, some people accused of minor crimes never get locked up. Instead, they are cited, given a court date and are released.

In the last year, there were 372 instances in which people were cited and released instead of being jailed.

Webster County jailers often have to consult with the county Attorney’s Office on releasing inmates considered unlikely to get in trouble again in order to ensure that there is space to house violent offenders who must be jailed.

“It’s a common occurrence to release the least likely to reoffend,” Fleener said. “That’s not normal law enforcement procedure.”

He added that the “criminal element” is aware of the jail’s constraints.

“They’re clearly aware that they’re not going to go to jail for minor offenses,” he said.

The jails’ design poses a safety problem, he added.

“Our current facility is a safety hazard for our employees,” he said.