February 1, 2009
Valley News
North Haverhill — With at least 15 towns calling for a delay in construction of a new county jail, two of the three Grafton County Commissioners last week said they are open to scaling back the size of the $38 million project.
But, they said, the existing facility, which includes sections that are more than 110 years old and is often overcrowded, still needs to be replaced soon.
Hanover Democrat Michael Cryans, chairman of the county commissioners, said in a telephone interview last week that a “compromise” is in order.
“I think there is no question that we need a new jail, but my feeling is we have to look at all the plans and revise the jail downward,” Cryans said Thursday. “We’re not an island. We see the struggles that families and communities are dealing with.”
“I am willing to compromise a bit on the size of the jail, because I just feel so strongly we need this new facility now,” added Commissioner Martha Richards, a Holderness Democrat. “If we can knock off a few million here and there with some changes, I’m all for that. But I will not in one iota change that mental health unit we need so badly.”
The third commissioner, Bath Republican Ray Burton, said he was opposed to delaying the project but said the jail plans are “an ongoing process.”
“In my opinion, (the existing) jail is not a safe facility for the number of inmates that are put in there by the court,” Burton said.
Legislative supporters of the jail have said that with interest rates low and contractors looking for work, now is an optimal time to build the jail at a good price. County taxpayers would pay off the bond through their property taxes, though commissioners are also angling to steer some federal stimulus money to the project, an uncertain prospect.
The current jail was designed to hold about 70 inmates but often sees its headcount top 100.
A new 108,000-square-foot, 206-bed jail was narrowly approved by the county delegation — comprising House members from Grafton County — last winter, but the jail project has been temporarily stalled by a court case challenging the vote on the construction bond. A Superior Court judge upheld the vote, but the plaintiffs might appeal .
Besides reducing overcrowding, the new facility would also have space for substance-abuse treatment programs and other activities corrections officials say are critical to reducing recidivism.
Meanwhile, the town of Hanover in December formally asked Grafton County officials to delay the construction of the new jail, saying property taxpayers couldn’t afford the added financial burden during the steep recession.
The typical homeowner in Hanover, with a home assessed at $400,000, already pays $548 a year in county taxes, and would see the burden rise to $900 after four years to repay the bond if the jail were to be built.
Since then, 14 more towns — Ashland, Bath, Bridgewater, Canaan, Haverhill, Holderness, Littleton, Lyman, Lyme, Orford, Plymouth, Thornton, Warren and Wentworth — have also sent similar letters to county officials warning of the fiscal pain from the jail. Grafton County is home to 38 towns and one city, Lebanon.
State Rep. Rick Ladd, a Haverhill Republican who also serves as chairman of his town’s selectboard, noted that many lawmakers are expected to meet at the county offices in North Haverhill tomorrow morning to discuss a plan to heat the entire county complex with wood chips.
Ladd wants lawmakers to reconsider their vote to approve the $38 million jail bond, but he lost an earlier bid to reopen the issue, on a 13-7 vote, at the delegation’s organizational meeting in December. He plans to press the issue again, however, both because of the project’s price tag and the cost to operate and maintain the jail in the years to come.
“I’d like to see the jail built, but to a much smaller proportion,” Ladd said. “I’d like to see something done to make sure we have an environment that is safe and healthy, but not to the tune of $38 (million) to $40 million.”
Cryans said commissioners are scheduled to meet with the contractor and architect for the jail project on Tuesday and may discuss whether one of the residential “pods” in the design can be cut out, with the option to build it down the road should the need for jail beds increase dramatically.
Richards, who is pushing the alternative energy plan, said if the wood chip heating system is approved, it could help reduce the size of the new jail.
Both she and Cryans said they were not changing their positions because of the letters from the towns, but from their firsthand recognition of the toll the slumping economy is taking.
“We are very aware of the economics of what’s happening in the county,” said Richards, who praised corrections officers there. “There’s never a good time to build a jail and, frankly, who ever wants to build a jail?”
At the same time, she made clear she regards the current facility as “unsafe, dreadful, whatever adjectives you want to use.”
Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin said she was pleased to hear that a majority of commissioners now want to scale back the jail.
“That’s good news. I’m glad they are aware and understanding of our concerns, obviously. I think Hanover has continued to try to say clearly that it’s not that we don’t think the jail needs to be replaced. It’s just the magnitude of the cost, and the timing,” Griffin said. “Right now is so uncertain fiscally, it’s a good time to take a step back.”
State Rep. Gene Andersen, D-Lebanon, was the critical swing vote in favor of the jail last winter. But he voted in the minority in December to support Ladd’s bid to reopen jail discussions.
He, too, said he was pleased to hear that the jail might be constructed to meet current needs, rather than building for a future jail population that might not exist if New Hampshire changes some of its policies for nonviolent offenders.
“We need to build a facility that does not anticipate needs, because I believe we are going to get smarter about incarcerating. We’re not going to be incarcerating people that aren’t dangerous felons,” Andersen said. “We need to downsize the jail, and we need to make an actually smaller physical footprint.”