The opening of Woodbury County’s new $69 million law enforcement center has been delayed.
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Matthew Ung says so far, he hasn’t received an official reason to why the jail won’t be ready for inmates on the projected opening date of Sept. 14.
“Every month, that's delayed is another month of lost revenue, that will have to, you know, find in the general fund or in reserves. We have an agreement with the (U.S.) Marshals to house inmates,” Ung said.
Ung estimated the county would bring in $1.2 million of revenue through the end of the fiscal year by housing federal inmates, but that is on hold for now. New courtrooms are also part of the plan.
Ung admits the project faced significant challenges, including an extra $15 million in costs. In 2020, voters approved $54 million in bonds to replace the old jail that officials say was overcrowded and needed significant repairs.
“Ever since the pandemic supply chain historic inflation," he said. "You know, we've had a lot of, you know, a lot of people protest it, for a lot of different reasons. But at the end of the day, the community supported the decision to build a new jail.”
Some expressed concern that federal pandemic relief money was used to help pay for some of the extra construction costs.
Ung can’t confirm news reports that say litigation is pushing back the opening of the LEC. He says if the completion date wasn’t met, the contractor could face legal recourse.
“But I don’t know if it’s in regards to the contractor specifically,” he added.
During this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, members said there was a lack of communication with the group that oversees the project.
“Yeah, I think it's unfortunate that there was no attendance at that Tuesday meeting where the board specifically requested attendance of the LEC Authority, even if they can't say anything, simply coming to a board meeting or having a representative say why they can't say anything would have been nice," Ung said. "But as I expressed on Tuesday, the silence was, you know, unfortunately, it spoke volumes.”
The board voted to replace former Woodbury County Supervisor Rocky De Witt who served on the LEC Authority. De Witt currently serves in the Iowa Legislature.
Ung says the board made a special allowance to keep De Witt on the LEC Authority, but a change was needed.
“We appreciate his knowledge of the project," he said. "But now that supervisor Mark Nelson is more up to speed on the project, it was always the plan to have him replace Rocky. We made that choice to do so last week, because the opening date is in question. We can't simply say we're going to make that transition upon the jail's completion, because we don't know when that is, and especially if there's any potential for legal issues.”
Ung won’t speculate on when he thinks the new LEC will open. But says it won’t happen in the near future because at least 90 days is required to notify all parties who will use the facility.
