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They're rough and preliminary, but the Kosciusko County jail expansion drawings are taking shape.
County Administrator Ron Robinson said there was still much work and discussion to do before a final drawing would be made. He said he hopes more definite drawings will be available in mid-April.
"We need to sit down with the different offices and go through the (preliminary) plans," Robinson said.
Those discussions will be put off a week so Robinson can take some personal time off next week.
Once actual discussions begin, part of the discussions will be on the work release program and the probation department. Robinson said the probation department will remain at the current site, but the work release program may be built elsewhere.
"We feel it'll be much cheaper if we go away from the present site (with the work release program)," he said.
He said any plans, including the site of the work release program, were not definite though.
When actual construction of the jail expansion begins, there will be a need for the county to house the probation and work release programs elsewhere. Robinson said the county was continuing to look for a temporary "home" for them, but has not found anything reasonable.
He said he checks every day for a new location and already has visited about a dozen places.
The county is also looking at hiring an outside firm to see if the county records can be made more compact.
"Storage space is a real problem," Robinson said. "We're looking into a way of preserving our county records and space saving."
County officials not only store records in their offices, but they also store records in the attic of the courthouse. Other records are also stored in large rooms in the justice building. A survey of the various record storage rooms found some material to date before 1925.
One storage option for the county may be to digitalize old records or place them on microfiche. There are some documents which are required to be in their natural state, Robinson said.
"Right now, all the offices in the courthouse are packed in," he said.
Various offices, like the auditor's office, have rearranged their offices to accommodate more spacing.
"We need somebody who deals with records to tell us what we can do," Robinson said.
Another idea that has been tossed around concerning the jail expansion is combining the Warsaw Police Department dispatch with the county's dispatch. Robinson said he doesn't expect that to happen in the near future, although it was a goal of both the county and the city.
"There's a lot of things to work out yet. There's some problems that need to be ironed out. I don't see that happening right away. It's going to take some time on both parts," he said.
The capacity of the jail expansion will hold about 300 prisoners, including the prisoners currently housed, Robinson said. The jail cells may be two tier high with a officer pod in the middle to keep an eye on the prisoners.
"We've traveled around the state looking at new jails and new jail concepts," he said.
Much of the discussion between Robinson, Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine and other county officials was on the best way to house inmates with a minimum staff. Robinson said he does expect minimal staff increase with the jail expansion.
Office space expansion for the various departments is also part of the jail expansion discussion.
"We're looking at more space for the prosecutor, clerk and probation department. As (the county) grows, the court system is getting bigger," Robinson said.
Demolition of the surrounding buildings may begin mid to late summer. Robinson said he then expected there to be some ground preparation before any actual construction would begin.
There is no definite timeline on construction.
