During the 2012 Campaign Cycle, Sheriff’s Candidate, John Green, warned us that the “powers that be” had it in their minds to have a new jail and that “…just watch- the citizens of Kootenai County will have a new jail stuffed down their throats!”
Well, here we are then…just as predicted, one “Lame Brain” Commissioner and one “Lame Duck” Commissioner voted to seek judicial confirmation of a proposed rental agreement for use of a new jail. (Thank you Jai for being the voice of reason and voting NO!)
The Lame Brain Commissioner, no relation to John Green, says correctly -“We’re only allowed to indebt the county one year at a time without a vote of the voters,” Then he proved his LB moniker by saying – under the terms of a rental agreement “We can walk away at any time”.
So let’s get this straight O Danny Boy….The county would have to move prisoners back into its current jail facility if a rental agreement ended between the county and Rocky Mountain Corrections?
Sooooooo…. If the new rent-a-jail is housing 400 inmates and the county decides it wants to “walk away” from the 5 million buck per year Shanghai, then those inmates will be transferred back to the existing facility and the inmates, for whom there is no room will be housed at??????…..Chateau Dan Green, we suppose?????
Yeah Right!
Practically, this scheme commits Kootenai County forever…never mind for one year! Let’s hope a State District Court Judge sees right through this nonsense and sends a clear message to Lame Brain and Lame Duck…WHEN THE VOTERS SAY NO…THEY MEAN IT!
I was talking with one of the 2 winners of the May primary for County Commissioner. We talked about the jail issue. I suggested that once he is in office to make a point of really explaining why or why not it is needed and especially show the numbers in terms of cost.
I do not want a private company running the jail. They have poor track records in this state and others. Why can’t the jail be added onto, as in 4-5 stories up?
Will it cost more to build on to what we have and run it ourselves? Or is it more cost effective to put inmates in other facilities?
You should write about the history of this issue, if you haven’t already.
[Note from Chester: Well, Bureaucrats like to build legacy’s and those in power in Kootenai County are no different. Some politicians will promote building infrastructure just so they can get their name on a nice new building! We wish it weren’t so, but history proves us right. Our question is…is there some personal financial gain in this move for some of the parties who are pushing it???? We really need to explore that further! During his campaign, John Green explained why we didm’t need to rush into building a new jail. He was also an advocate for a remodel or add on to the existing facility, if necessary. But it looks like Wolfinger will get his new jail after all. And, when it becomes apparent that the “rental” agreement won’t work, our bet is that the County ends up buying the facility at some inflated price…thus again thwarting the will of the voters and sticking it to the taxpayers!]