photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo

The Douglas County Jail is shown in this file photo from February 2015.

County leaders have approved the budget for a jail maintenance project that is about $1.5 million more than initially planned.

As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission voted unanimously to approve a total project budget of $5.6 million and the guaranteed maximum price proposal with Turner Construction in the amount of about $5.3 million, according to a county staff memo. Earlier this year, the total anticipated construction cost was about $4.02 million.

Jay Zimmerschied, the county’s director of capital projects, explained that the price had increased because of both increases in construction costs and additions to the project. He said because construction costs have increased at record rates, it was necessary to increase the contingency funding for the project. He also said the need for additional maintenance to the jail’s sliding detention doors and fire suppression and water pump systems had been identified and added to the project.

Zimmerschied said considering that the jail is now about 25 years old and unlike other buildings operates 24/7, there were many needed maintenance upgrades. He said it would be less expensive to address the maintenance before components failed, and that the maintenance that was planned would last the jail for years to come.

“This a good, defined package to keep that facility operational for a long time,” Zimmerschied said.

Commission Chair Shannon Portillo asked whether the guaranteed maximum price proposal with Turner Construction in the amount of about $5.3 million could increase. Zimmerschied said it was not anticipated that the project would run beyond the $5.3 million, but that the additional money was being set aside out of caution.

The jail was built in 1997. The maintenance project includes parking lot repairs, elevator upgrades, plumbing replacement, upgrades to the jail’s sliding detention doors and repairs at the jail’s central heating and cooling plant. All of the upgrades were originally included in the county’s $30 million jail expansion project, but that plan was controversial and was discontinued last year, leaving the maintenance projects undone.

In other business, the county deferred its consideration of a grant agreement with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services for one-time funding of $500,000 for a “housing first” pilot program. Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur said that there was some additional work needed to finalize the proposed contract and that it would come back to the commission at an upcoming meeting.