Fond du Lac County Jail Presentation

The Fond du Lac County Board met on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. at the Fond du Lac City County Government Center for their regular meeting where there was also a presentation about potential plans for a new jail facility for Fond du Lac County.

The presentation was presented by Kurt Berner from Samuels Group on the building and operational costs of a potential jail. The reason that they are looking at building a new jail is for a few different reasons: the current jail is 50-years-old and is at max capacity while also experiencing maintenance issues. Building a new facility would help address these issues.

Berner gave several options for the board to look at for a new facility, but there is no concrete plan yet. This planning stage has been going on for several years, so this is not a project that is being rushed. This is still the very beginning stages, as there are a lot of questions that need to be answered–by both the board and the community–and important decisions need to be made.

Berner presented to the board six options to look at regarding new facilities, as well as two additions to one or more of the options. The cost of each of these have factored in an eight percent increase in next year’s dollars due to inflation trends.

The first option is a downtown jail across from the current facility on Western Avenue with remote parking. This facility was recommended by the Weber report and holds 456 beds. The cost of this building would be approximately $232 million and have a staff of 64. The mill rate would be $1 per $1,000 of home value, and could bring a potential revenue of up to $2.9 million. An alternative to this option with an adjacent parking lot would cost $240 million with a mill rate of $1.03 per $1,000.

A second option would be an adult only jail, still downtown, and would cost $215 million, staff 60 people and have a mill rate of $0.92 per $1,000. The potential revenue would be the same

These first two options are both for a downtown facility across from the current facility. These two options would be separate buildings, but a skywalk could be made to combine the two for an additional $8.5 million and an additional mill rate increase of $0.03.

The rest of the options would be putting a facility on Scott Road.

The third option would be a Law Enforcement Center. This option would cost $249 million with a $1.07 mill rate. It would staff 60 people and have the same potential revenue as the first two options.

A fourth option would be a Justice Center that would cost $339 million with a mill rate of $1.46. It would have a staff of 56 and would have the same $2.9 million potential revenue.

The fifth option would be a 30 bed juvenile detention facility that would cost $22 million to build with a $0.10 mill rate. This would only have a staff of 17 people and could create a potential revenue of $3.6 million.

The sixth option would be combining options four and five, having a combined justice center and juvenile detention facility. This option would cost $361 million in construction and would have the highest mill rate of $1.55 per $1,000. This would also have the highest staff amount of 73, and it would have the highest potential revenue of $6.5 million.

Brener also brought up costs for a downtown court holding renovation, which would come into play if they do with one of the following options only: jail only, juvenile facility only or law enforcement center on Scott Rd. This is in order to bring inmates to the court. This could cost an additional $3 million and be an additional $0.01 mill rate cost.

Brener is hoping that the County Board will make a decision by spring or early summer, and once the building process starts, it will take approximately four to five years to complete.

Throughout January, the County Board and Samuels Group will be hosting community information meetings that are open to the public to give more information about the project. Letters will soon be going out to Fond du Lac County citizens with more information on those dates and location. Until those meetings, Brener and other project leads will be sitting down with each County Board member, one by one, to give a more in-depth explanation of the project and answer any questions they or community members may have.

A website for the project is in the end stages of being completed, but people can visit www.fdlco.wi.gov/government/county-board-supervisors/proposed-jail-project for current information.