I shared a photo yesterday of our unadorned, industrial-looking County jail facility, built in 1991 as an addition to the downtown County Courthouse.
It’s not the most attractive building in the world. But I can’t say I’ve actually seen an attractive jail building anywhere. Jails seem to be designed, generally, to appear functional, and oppressive.
But at least we do have a jail… even if it’s been abandoned for the past three years.
Some folks are eager to see that it remains abandoned. The Archuleta County committee known as the ‘Citizens for a New Jail,’ for example. At Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners work session, they asked the commissioners if they could possibly get a report — some real, hard facts — that would justify the permanent abandonment of our County jail. So the voters could have some honest information.
Such information might help justify a shiny, new $20 million facility.
County Administrator Bentley Henderson:
“[The committee] has requested some information regarding the condition of the existing facility. And I had a long conversation with Commissioner Whiting on Friday. And it was his position that… Well, part of the request, for looking at the existing jail, was to do an extensive… er… to do an investigation into the ability for it to be either reconstituted as a jail, along with the ability for there to be some expansion.
“I had a conversation with Commissioner Whiting [currently out of town] and his position was that the BOCC had made a decision…
“The ability to do that, to re-occupy that facility? It exists. It’s just how much money the County wants to put into it.
“But the Board of County Commissioners has made… on more than one occasion… established a very strong position that that’s not where the Archuleta County jail is going to be. And Commissioner Whiting just wanted to be clear that he doesn’t want to invest any additional funds into making a determination as to what it would take to re-occupy that facility, because the BOCC never had any intention to do so.”
Of course, we all have intentions. But situations can change. For example, the BOCC could place a $26 million tax increase measure on the ballot and see it rejected by the voters.
That did happen just last year, in fact.
In the face of such a rejection, the BOCC could — if they wished — spend some money to find out what it would take to re-occupy the existing jail, and maybe even to expand it onto the one-acre vacant lot next door. Might that be money well spent?
But, according to Mr. Henderson, Commissioner Whiting has no interest in knowing what it would cost, to re-occupy and perhaps enlarge the existing jail.
How does the rest of the BOCC feel about that?
Commissioner Ronnie Maez:
“One common sense thing I’d like to say about that. It doesn’t leave any room for future expansion. It doesn’t. So, as this community grows… we need to do this in a location, and with a building to start with, with future growth in mind. Future expansion. I don’t want my grandkids, if they happen to come back and live here, to look at this thing and say, ‘Man, now we’re stuck downtown.’… That site would probably be a lot more rewarding to the citizens of Archuleta County and the Town of Pagosa Springs as a future development site for commercial property, some type of commercial industry that will benefit all of the people of Archuleta County.”
Commissioner Maez made no reference to the fact that a sizable vacant lot sits next door to the existing jail.
I’ve often heard our Commissioners talk about the wonderful commercial potential that would be created by abandoning our historic courthouse facilities. Surely, some clever developer would see the value in spending a million dollars demolishing an old building and renovating the site? Maybe build a hotel there?
But I’ve yet to hear any commissioner explain why so many prime commercial lots — parcels that once accommodated viable historic buildings, in some cases — have been sitting vacant and undeveloped for so many years in our struggling downtown core and in our uptown commercial developments. Many have been vacant for more than ten years, including the parcel next door to the existing jail.
A sampling:
At any rate, Commissioner Wadley agreed that the BOCC has no interest, whatsoever, in knowing what it would cost to renovate and expand the existing jail.
Commissioner Maez:
“I don’t think it’s even worth the time to find out the cost [of renovating the existing jail.] There’s no room for expansion. It just doesn’t make sense. And we have free property at Harman Park. They’re donating that property.” The Harman Art Museum has offered 5 acres of vacant property as a jail and Sheriff’s facility site, contingent upon the County constructing a dedicated art exhibit space within the facility, to house and display the artwork of famous cartoonist Fred Harman.
Sounds like we will never know, for sure, how many millions of dollars could be saved by renovating and modernizing — and perhaps expanding — our existing facility.
When I visited the ‘Citizens for a New Jail’ website on Monday, July 30, the website included a page entitled: “Why Not Use the Old Jail?” The page included very limited information — basically, three simple sentences, such as “The current jail is too small.” And “Remodeling the current jail would be too expensive.”
When I visited the website the following day, however, the ‘New Jail’ committee had added considerably more information — four full paragraphs — to support their contention that our existing County jail ought to be abandoned, permanently, in favor of a new facility costing in the neighborhood of $20 million. (I could not find this estimated price, $20 million, anywhere on the ‘New Jail’ website, which you can visit here.)
The revised website information mentions numerous problems with the existing jail, such as:
“The old jail was built 29 years ago to less demanding standards than those presently in force.”
“It was flooded in 2015 and suffered substantial damage.”
“The foundations shifted and required the installation of a new sewer line.”
“The old jail at 34 beds is too small… In 2018, the average daily number of Archuleta County prisoners has been 23, which is near capacity for the old jail.”
“Archuleta County will continue to grow and will need a larger jail.”
“It is estimated that the cost to make the old jail merely habitable will be approximately $6,000,000.”
We might wonder about that dollar figure. The website does not provide any documentation, or details… such as who made the $6 million estimate, and what problems, exactly, would drive renovation costs up to $6 million. A wild guess?
We do, however, have documented estimates for the failed facility plan and tax increase that the BOCC placed on the ballot last year. Slightly more than $6 million…
The above $20 million estimate didn’t include the generous interest payments that would be made to the bond investors, to finance the debt.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.