Jail construction amendment may save up to $2.5M, county manager says

By Ena Sellers, Duplin Journal

KENANSVILLE — An amendment to modify construction documents for the new Duplin County Detention Center was approved on Monday, Nov. 20, during the Board of County Commissioners bimonthly meeting in Kenansville. 

“This redesign and amendment will provide significant cost savings to the county in the future, maybe up to $2.5 million worth of savings,” said County Manager Bryan Miller, adding that the architects have agreed to waive their contractual 5% additional markup for their involvement and are presenting the amendment as a pass-through cost only. 

The $24,000 services agreement with Moseley Architects is for a redesign that will accommodate a future Law Enforcement Center west of the planned facility without the demolition of the planned staff parking lot, which will need to occupy a different location. 

During a county commissioners meeting held on July 17, 2023, the dire need for a larger detention facility was discussed in great detail along with potential risks of operating a facility that is “not suitable for employees or inmates.” It was also discussed that the detention facility cannot accommodate the needs of the county with a capacity for less than 100 people. A constant overflow of inmates who are having to be housed in other jails due to the lack of capacity remains a problem in Duplin County, costing taxpayer dollars every year that goes by without an adequate facility. At the end of the meeting everyone agreed that there is a pressing need for a bigger jail, however there was no decision whether they would construct a 236-bed or a 156-bed facility. The cost to build the three-pod facility was estimated at $43 million, and the smaller two-pod option was estimated at $34 million. 

“I’m looking forward to working with County Commissioners and the county manager, it does look like the jail project is moving forward,” Sheriff Stratton Stokes told the Duplin Journal, adding that he hopes they will get a definitive answer soon on exactly what size facility they are going to build. 

Sheriff Stokes shared that the parking lot has been a topic of conversation for the past three or four months. “If they build the jail and the Sheriff’s Office, the staff parking lot would be beside the Sheriff’s Office. At one time when they were looking at just building the jail, they were looking at putting the staff parking lot right beside the jail, which would be the footprint of the Sheriff’s Office if it ever expanded and that’s one issue we had because we didn’t want to put a parking lot down for them to destroy it later on.” 

“If the Sheriff’s Office is built, it is going to change the design of the jail a little bit; if it’s not hopefully it’ll be a bigger jail – something that we need,” said Sheriff Stokes, adding that the county commissioners have not relayed any information about which way they are deciding to go at this time. 

Sheriff Stokes stated he maintains his position that the county needs a 236-bed facility. 

“We need to build something that’s adequate for the county and that will last us, and a 150-bed facility would be at capacity as soon as it was open, so I’m completely against that.” 

Last year, Duplin County was awarded $21.3 million from the State Capital Infrastructure Fund to help build the new jail. On Sept. 5, the Board approved a contract with First Tryon advisors to start the process for obtaining Limited Obligation Bonds to help finance the new Detention facility. Most recently, $11 million in appropriations from the North Carolina state budget were allocated for public safety facilities including planning and construction of the new detention center, which puts the county a step ahead with more than $32 million in funding from the state. 

“As for which way we’re going with the extra $11 million, it’s just going to depend on the county commissioners and how they want to move forward,” said Sheriff Stokes. “They still have not decided on what size jail to build, and that is just dependent on if we are just going to do a jail or if they are going to try to do a jail and a Sheriff’s Office. 

The next Board of County Commissioners meeting will be on Monday, Dec. 4.