Friday, November 28, 2003
MERCER, Pa. -- The building footprint for the new Mercer County jail is taking shape.
Bill Barbary, the county's clerk of the works on the $18 million project, told the county prison board Monday that about 70 percent of the building's exterior footers are in place and interior footers will be worked on in the coming month.
Underground plumbing and electrical installation will follow, Barbary said.
The project was started 153 days ago and 397 working days remain on the contract.
The 265-bed facility will tie into the nearby minimum-security state prison in Findley Township for sewage disposal at the state prison's treatment plant.
That line is being installed on the state property and will extend to the new jail site, Barbary said.
Meanwhile, a jail transition team put into place in September to begin planning for the move to the new jail has completed a final draft of the staffing analysis but didn't report the details to the prison board.
Warden Jeff Gill will finalize the staffing needs and present the figures to the board at a later date.
The team is still touring other jails in the region to gather information on their operations and suggestions on how to best handle the move to a new facility.
It must also come up with policy and procedure regulations as well as a training plan for new and current staff as well as review various parts of the new jail construction.