The state has rejected a proposed buildout at Warren County Jail that was originally included in upgrades currently being conducted at the facility.
When Energy Savings Group was hired by Warren County government to perform updates throughout county buildings, a storage room was included in the jail’s portion of the project. Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury reviewed the scope of work and removed the buildout.
“That part of the work is new construction,” said ESG project manager John Waddle. “Under Tennessee bylaws, it was not totally clear to the comptroller of the state where or not language allowed our contract to accommodate totally brand new construction. It’s one thing to modify and renovate, but that’s new construction.”
By law, a competitive bidding process is required for the jail addition. The information was provided to members of the county Corrections Partnership Committee.
“You still have the funds for it because we removed it as well,” said Waddle, who could not provide commissioners with an exact dollar amount. “Unfortunately, we can’t handle it for you. We were going to, but we won’t be able to.”
The area would have been used for storage so that rooms inside the jail could be renovated for program space for inmates to help reduce recidivism.
Commissioner Steven Helton expressed disappointment.
“I’ve been talking about this for a number of months and couldn’t wait for it to be built,” said Helton. “However, I understand that the state has removed it from the contract and nothing can be done about that.”
Waddle said, “We don’t like pulling items from the project. It serves us no advantage to pull work from ourselves.”
Left intact by the state are the other upgrades: lighting, HVAC, air and water quality improvements, weatherization, roof, cameras, locks, key card access, security system controls and monitoring, shower floor surface upgrades, laundry and kitchen improvements.
Waddle says the project is on schedule.
“Everything is at or ahead of schedule. It’s an exciting project. These are upgrades that you have been waiting on for a long time.”
ESG’s project will be complete in 2020.
No date was given for when the jail’s buildout will be bid out.
