McLeod County Jail project going ‘OK’

Crews are halfway through a 60-day construction period on the McLeod County Jail remodeling project, and are trying to beat the clock.

“It’s not going as fast I would like to see it go … but they are getting things done,” said Jail Administrator Capt. Dennis Johnson in his update to the County Board Tuesday (Sept. 2).

The project requires a great deal of coordination, according to Johnson. “Everything is going OK, but it takes a lot of time to do little things,” he said.

The project includes remodeling the jail’s security control room, updating security electronics, replacing air vents with more secure models, replacing intercoms, updating the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, and replacing circular lenses on lights, property storage cages, and electrical outlet plates with more secure versions. In addition, the jail will get a new roof.

For security reasons, inmates are being boarded out to other jails in the area. Johnson said the inmate transfers and boarding have gone smoothly. Fewer inmates than expected have required boarding, which is helping to contain costs.

Remodeling of the security control center is three-fourths complete, but a vendor sent the wrong size ventilation diffusers and the correctly sized replacements have yet to show up.

“Will we get done in the 60 days?” Johnson rhetorically asked. “I don’t know. It’s going to be close.”

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)