The Fayette County Board of Commissioners last week moved to spend more than $1.6 million to get the old county jail facility ready to put back into use.
The board approved a staff recommendation to award the job to general contractor New South Construction at the guaranteed maximum price of $1,545,347 along with a separate contract to South Western Communications for $99,925 to install specialized security electronic systems.
The old jail has been unoccupied for 14 years since the new facility was completed. The 19,715-square-foot complex has seven housing units and a total of 75 two-person cells along with an internal exercise yard and central control tower. This project will get it back to operational standards “to provide additional inmate capacity to assist in the greater classification of prisoners,” according to county officials.
Project work includes roof replacement and repairs, repairs to existing windows, installation of correctional grade plumbing fixtures; replacement of cell door locking systems, improvements to cells, day rooms and control tower; new correctional furniture, replacement and repairs to the HVAC system with a smoke evacuation fans, replacement of light fittings, and adding new security control systems, cameras and recording facilities linked back to the existing central control room in the new jail.
A $10,000 allowance was included to connect additional circuits in the new jail to the emergency power generator.
In response to a question from a citizen regarding the bid process, county staff stated that there was a procurement process and request for proposals which was the subject of a December vote by the commissioners. Five proposals were received and the two best invited in for an interview, after which the project team selected New South.
The company is ready to begin work as soon as it receives a notice to proceed and has targeted August of this year to complete the project.
The board also approved a $164,852 bid from Gene Barber Contracting, Inc. for the expansion and renovations at the Fayette Senior Center. The county previously provided $15,600 toward the development of architectural drawings for the project.
The plan calls for renovations to be made to the existing game room, lounge, meeting room and vestibule areas. The pergola area outside the building is to be demolished, creating about 770 square feet of additional space.
The company selected was one of 14 that submitted bids for the work.
The board elected not to object to a planned annexation by the city of Fayetteville of a 1.01-acre commercial site at 140 Walker Parkway, which the city expects to rezone from C-H to C-3 (both are considered Highway Commercial).
The property was already designated as commercial on the county’s Future Land Use Map, and staff found no grounds for a land use objection.
An ordinance revising provisions pertaining to Lake Kedron, Starr’s Mill, Lake Horton and Lake McIntosh was approved by the board. It was referred to by staff as “an effort to bring consistency to the recreation ordinances that are already in effect.”
Staff had discovered that the ordinance, with regard to the operation of water-craft vessels, was not consistent with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and these proposals will bring further bring consistency to state requirements.
County attorney Dennis Davenport told the board that a citizen had mentioned last year an apparent discrepancy in the age requirements to operate watercraft in Fayette compared to the state’s regulations. “We wanted to make sure there were no substantial differences in the regulations governing the various reservoirs,” he said.
The board also approved a request from the Olivia Estates homeowners association seeking authorization to use motorized carts on all of the streets within the subdivision. Internal streets, which are not subject to the same evaluation as those outside subdivisions, typically require specific Board of Commissioners approval for such use.
Two public hearings initially on the meeting agenda, addressing a rezoning request from R-20 to A-R to develop a farm on a 6.49-acre site on Neely Road, were removed at the applicant’s request.
Each of the above actions throughout the meeting were passed with a 5-0 vote.
The board was scheduled to recognize Pash Lima for his work on the Crosstown Water Treatment Plant mural. He was unable to attend, but the board recognized a representative of the Dolce Hotel and Resort in Peachtree City, which furnished accommodations for Lima during the two months needed to complete the project, an in-kind donation of several thousand dollars according to county officials.
