YORK – The York County Commissioners have signed off on an agreement with Davis Design for the installation of a fire suppression system in the jail. After the fire marshal informed them no expansions of the courthouse would be allowed until a suppression system is installed in the jail, the county board members have been working on getting this project started.
The courthouse was built in the 1980s, at a time when fire suppression systems weren’t required – so the facility has been grandfathered in that aspect. However, when the commissioners began working toward a small build-out on the south side of the courthouse, they were informed that project – and other expansion projects – can’t take place until the fire sprinkler system is installed. Davis Design was already working with the commissioners on the initial project, they were enlisted by the county board to look further into the scope of this work. Nebraska Jail Standards reviewed the project, with Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier saying that entity “is pleased we are doing this.” So this past week, now that Jail Standards has weighed in, the next step was to sign off with Davis to start the project. It is estimated the project will cost $10-$15 a square foot, so the project more than likely will cost in the area of $100,000-$125,000. “I think we need to pay for this with money from the inheritance fund because we didn’t plan to do this or budget to do this,” Obermier said. “Well, this is one of those things we have to do, so I’ll make the motion to approve the letter of service with Davis Design,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz. All the other commissioners agreed as well. This will be a unique project in that the jail will be occupied by inmates the entire time, 24 hours a day, every day a week. That means workers will have to pass background checks, be inspected as they come in and leave . . . and inmates will need to be moved around as work progresses through the jail. The project will also require specific materials and systems which cannot be tampered with. Comments are closed.
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