Wikimedia Commons/Rhododendrites
Wikimedia Commons/Rhododendrites
Monona County taxpayers rejected a $6.2 million bond issue that would have financed a new jailhouse that would be built to replace the current aging facility that has been in operation for 46 years.
The proposal received 57% support. The proposal received 726 votes for the bond issue with a total of 548 against it. A 60% majority vote was needed to pass the proposal.
The final results didn't surprise Monona County Board of Supervisors chairman Mike Collison. Collison said he couldn't make predictions before the vote.
"I wouldn't call it because I knew it was going to be close," Collison told The Herald Bulletin.
County leaders must now sit down and decide their next step in seeking a solution to overcrowding at the 12-bed jail, opened in 1974 inside the Public Safety Center, which also houses the Monona County Sheriff's Office, Onawa Police Department, and the county's emergency management office and communications center.
"I don't know if we'll go to another bond issue," Collison said.
The present facility doesn't meet the state jail standards. However, the facility is allowed to remain open because it is "grandfathered in" under previous state jail standards.
Collison stated that the county can't "come in compliance" with the present facility. He said they need the new jail but the taxpayers don't want it.
"We cannot come in compliance with the jail we've got now," Collison said. "We're pretty much needing it, but the people didn't want it."
The county's plans required a new Public Safety Center with a 32-bed jail built in.
Officials say the jail could have been expanded to add 66 new wings in the future. The new facility would have been built northeast of the Monona County Courthouse. The plans reveal that the jail would have been connected to the courthouse so the inmates could be transported easier.
The state jail inspector has reported the current jail is in poor condition. The inspectors report also revealed that overcrowded conditions create safety and security hazards for the inmates and staff members.
Alerts Sign-up