After nearly seven years of planning and meetings, more planning and meetings, and even more planning and meetings, the official beginning for the construction of a Mercer County jail is nearing.

County commissioners will open bids of contractors from around the region May 7, beginning the process that is expected to lead to a 265-bed state-of-the-art jail in Findley Township on about 30 acres next to the state Regional Correctional Facility at Mercer.

The deadline for submitting bids is 10 a.m. May 7, Commissioner Chairman Cloyd E. "Gene" Brenneman said at Monday's prison board meeting. The bids will be opened at 10:30.

The original deadline for bid submissions was Monday, with today scheduled for bid openings. However, Brenneman said, a number of questions were raised by architects and it was necessary for that information to be given to all of the bidders, in case they needed to adjust their offers.

Brenneman said after realizing a large number of bidders are from outside the area, commissioners also decided to set the deadline and opening on the same day.

County Fiscal Administrator Tresa Templeton said five different bids are being sought: general construction; heating, ventilating and air conditioning; plumbing and fire-related equipment; electricity; and detention equipment.

Questions have been raised whether enough money remains of the $34 million tax-supported bond issue to pay for the jail.

"It all depends on who you talk to," said Ms. Templeton. "Some say we will and some say we won't. It really all depends on what the bids are going to come in at."

Commissioners floated the 30-year bond in April 2001 to fund, among other projects, the courthouse renovation and construction of two district justice offices. Payments amount to 1.33 mills in property tax annually.

Commissioner Olivia Lazor said Monday about $18.5 million of the bond has been earmarked for the jail.

It'll be in that $18 million to $19 million range only "if we're very, very, very lucky," said Commissioner Kenneth A. Seamans. "And I'm afraid it's higher than that."

How much higher is anyone's guess, Seamans said, adding, "The last that I heard it was about $20 million, but that was strictly hearsay."

Bond issue spending through Monday, according to Ms. Templeton, broke down like this:

   » $8.1 million for the courthouse renovation

   » $1.1 million for the jail, the majority of which has been spent on architect and engineering fees, as well as buying the land

   » $200,000 for District Justice William L. Fagley's Greenville office and site analysis for District Justice Henry J. Russo's office.

Ms. Templeton said $23 million of the bond remains in the bank, although she cautioned the county still has to finish the courthouse and the magistrates' offices.

"We may come in on budget or close to budget with what the initial plans were," Mrs. Lazor said of the $10 million courthouse project. "But we did not plan on doing the fourth courtroom ... and we didn't plan on some of the extraordinary things we ran into. What we planned for is going to be on budget, but there are still a lot of unanswered problems and just how we're going to solve them is uncertain."

As for what options commissioners have if the jail bids come in well over the $18.5 million figure, Brenneman said, "We're going to wait and see what the outcome is and then go from there. We may not even need to discuss options."

Seamans added, however, that changes are possible to the final courthouse and jail projects if "we really get into a bind."

You can e-mail Herald Political Writer Jeff Greenburg at jgreenburg@sharonherald.com.

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