photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo

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

County leaders have taken another step forward for a proposed $4 million jail maintenance project.

At its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission voted unanimously to approve a $63,500 addition to the professional services design contract with TreanorHL Inc. to cover changes to the design and documentation of the project.

The changes are needed after the county decided to forgo the controversial $30 million jail expansion project, which included an expansion as well as the repairs. Estimates previously provided to the commission anticipate a total project cost of $4,022,174, which includes the $63,500 for professional fees to TreanorHL.

The amendment is in addition to fees paid to TreanorHL over the course of the yearslong project. From 2015 through late 2018, the county paid TreanorHL $596,144, and then about $1.16 million for pre-design through bid negotiations, according to information County Administrator Sarah Plinsky provided the Journal-World. Plinsky noted the second amount included some reimbursable items paid to other subcontractors where TreanorHL worked as a pass-through.

Once design work is complete, the repair project will come back to the commission for final consideration.

In other business, the commission:

• Voted unanimously to initiate a text amendment to the subdivision regulations for Lawrence and the unincorporated areas of Douglas County. The amendment, which will ultimately need to be approved by both the city and county commissions, will align land division processes and standards with growth management goals for the city and county in the new comprehensive plan, Plan 2040.

• Received results of the 2020 Douglas County Employee Racial Equity Survey and discussed potential increases in equity training for county employees.