Been a while since the debate, construction and occupation of Guilford County’s phat new $100 million jail, which is now set to house federal inmates— but –correct me if I’m wrong —the issue of what to do with the old jail never really came up.
Now it is:
We don’t know what to do with it,” said Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing last week at a meeting of the county budget committee.
The county originally wanted to renovate the old jail and use it to house federal inmates. But the idea fell through when it became clear just how many repairs would be necessary and what they would cost.
The building, built in 1975, would need a new heating and cooling system at a minimum — a project that would cost around $1.5 million, the county estimates.
“There’s going to be a short-term HVAC cost of about $75,000 that we’re going to have to incur soon, just to keep the mold from growing in there when the humidity goes up,” Lawing said. “But that’s just a patch solution.”
Commissioner Hank Henning, who works for heating and cooling company Brady Services, said there’s really no point in continuing to patch and repair systems as old as the one in the new jail.
“You’ll just spend the entire life of the system chasing leaks,” Henning said.
County Commissioner and 6th District Congressional candidate Jeff Phillips said he’d like the county to put the jail on the market, an option that Lawing said was ” possible, but not likely” due to the expense and the need to preserve the underground tunnel to the courthouse, which is till used to transport prisoners.
