Tag: Mark Luttrell

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Politics Politics Feature

Round One: The County Primaries

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

As the race for the Democratic nomination for Shelby County mayor entered this week, the last full one before next Tuesday’s May 6th primary, the three-way contest for the right to oppose Republican incumbent Mayor Mark Luttrell had largely settled, as expected, into a two-way affair between current County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, who had more cash on hand, and former Commissioner Deidre Malone, who could claim deep roots among the party’s rank and file.

This is not to minimize the third contestant, the Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr., the controversial former school board member whose rhetorical fire and  populist image are an X factor in the election. It is merely to recognize that Whalum’s financial resources, which are virtually nonexistent, were not such as to grant him the full county-wide attention that his Memphis-centric message requires for maximum effect.

As of March 31st, when financial disclosures for the first quarter were due, Mulroy claimed receipts for the period of $35,021, with $20,000 on hand. Malone’s comparable figures were $36,405, with $17,972 on hand. For the record, Whalum had raised $1,000 and had all of $740 on hand.

Another disclosure was due Tuesday, and it will almost certainly show that considerable new sums were raised by both main contenders since the last disclosure and that a fair amount of money has been spent by each in the interim since March 31st.

More is yet to come. Early voting, which began on the 25th, was due to end on Thursday of this week, May 1st, and Mulroy and Malone were going all out.

From the beginning, an endorsement battle has been underway. Mulroy pulled off an early coup by netting the endorsement of former Criminal Court Judge Joe Brown, who is now the Democrats’ uncontested nominee for district attorney general and whose considerable fame as TV’s “Judge Joe Brown” has earned him major influence in local Democratic affairs.

Mulroy has been boosted as well by endorsements from nine major unions and from such inner-city political figures as former commissioner and interim County Mayor Joe Ford and current Commissioner Justin Ford, along with City Councilmember Janis Fullilove.

For her part, Malone has scored a laundry list of endorsements from other Democratic figures. This past week, in particular, has been good to her in this respect. Although Mayor A C Wharton was not exactly loud and vocal about it (and absent from an impressive ceremony Malone staged last week with other influential endorsers), she did get a statement of support from the mayor that allowed her to include him at the top of her endorsement list.

That was followed up by this week’s endorsement of Malone by The Commercial Appeal, giving her a stout one-two punch and a real boost for the last stage of the primary.

Mulroy’s contention, as he expressed it in a recent debate with Malone and Whalum sponsored by the Shelby County Democratic Party, is that Democrats should not attempt to fuzz the distinctions between themselves and Shelby County Republicans, but rather to present an “aggressive contrast.”

Malone has been a down-the-line exponent of traditional party causes, and her lead role on the County Commission in attempting to broaden the structure of Juvenile Court both complemented, and in some ways, anticipated the militant reform efforts of current Commissioner (and Juvenile Court clerk candidate) Henri Brooks.

Even Whalum (a bold and dedicated soul who will surely object to that “even”) sees the mathematical necessity to build bridges across a county divide that is part political, part racial, and part geographical, and, in a recent speech to a meeting of the Germantown Democrats, he made it a point to court not only the suburban party-mates in his audience but even members of the opposite party.

“It’s a foolish loser who says he doesn’t want Republican votes. I’m not going to limit myself,” Whalum said on that occasion, during which he redefined the thrust of his adamant opposition, as a member of the Memphis City Schools (MCS) board, to the December 2010 surrender by the board of the MCS charter.

“I was the only Memphis official who fought for the suburbs to have their own schools,” Whalum said. “I have a very good working relationship with all the municipal mayors. I stood with them on their school systems.”

Up to this point, a certain comity has been practiced by the competing  Democratic candidates — one which had them describing each other as “nice people” in the course of a party-sponsored mayoral forum in early April.

But of late, Mulroy and Malone have exchanged some serious shots.

Among several charges in a Mulroy mailer this week is an allegation that Malone “contibuted financially JUST LAST MONTH to the campaign of an opponent seeking to defeat Representative Steve Cohen.”

And, indeed, financial disclosure records show that Malone, on March 27th, contributed $250 to the primary campaign of Ricky Wilkins, Cohen’s primary opponent this year.

Clearly, the charge is meant to shake Malone’s support among supporters of a Democratic congressman who has won a progressively greater hold of his party’s voters with each successive election since his first one in 2006.

Cohen, who made it clear last week that he would not endorse anyone in the mayoral primary, pleading that he had “too many friends” in the race, was not moved to alter his technical neutrality by this circumstance — nor by a parallel charge from the Mulroy camp that Malone had supported Tomeka Hart against Cohen in the 2012 primary.

But it did lead him to redefine his definition of “friends” to mean more specifically Mulroy and Whalum, both consistent supporters of Cohen’s election bids, and to describe Malone’s position as “certainly unusual,” one that, “politically … makes no sense.”

For her part, Malone has begun to exploit what she regards as a Mulroy weak point, his vote in 2011 with a commission majority to support Luttrell’s decision to award Christ Community Health Services (CCHS) a county contract to administer federal Title X funds for women’s health services, rather than Planned Parenthood, the traditional grantee and the clear favorite of pro-choice Democrats.

Mulroy has explained that vote as one made in order to barter with what was already a bipartisan majority for CCHS so as to impose strict and measurable compliance standards. And in recent weeks, he charged CCHS with falling short of those standards and made a conspicuous — if ultimately unsuccessful — effort on behalf a rebidding the Title X contract.

Although Malone herself has publicly soft-pedaled the point somewhat, on the occasion of her endorsement ceremony last week, she vigorously seconded allegations by state Representative G.A. Hardaway, a supporter, that Mulroy had made “a back-room deal with Republicans,” which he was now trying to put forth, Hardaway said, as being in the best interest of women’s rights.

After next Tuesday, all this unpleasantness will be forgotten, and each of the three Democrats has pledged to support the one survivor against the formidable Luttrell, who is opposed only by the hapless perennial Ernest Lunati in the GOP primary.

 

Other Contested Races:

County Commission, District 2 (Republican primary): In a battle between two east Shelby County members of the finance industry, newcomer David Bradford, assisted by former Luttrell insider Dan Springer, is running neck-and-neck with George Chism, son of a former longtime county school board member and a familiar figure in Republican circles. Both are well funded.

County Commission, District 3 (Republican primary): It’s a four-way race in the Bartlett area between businessman Naser Fazlullah, consultant and military veteran Kelly Price, school board member David Reaves, and educator and longtime Republican activist Sherry Simmons, wife of Bartlett alderman Bobby Simmons. Reaves and Simmons, both well-financed, are the main contenders, with Price hoping to break through as the GOP’s latest exemplar among African Americans.

County Commission, District 4 (Republican primary): Foundation executive and current Commission incumbent Mark Billingsley is seemingly much too well-financed and supported for retired lawman Ron Fittes, who is, however, running hard.  

County Commission, District 6 (Democratic primary): The contenders are Karl L. Bond, Willie Brooks, Edith Ann Moore, and Kendrick D. Sneed. Former School Board member Brooks would seem to have an edge over former interim County Commissioner Moore. Both have money to run on.

County Commission, District 7 (Democratic primary): Incumbent Commissioner Melvin Burgess, son of a widely admired former Memphis police director, has too much support and name recognition for gallant newcomer Brandon Echols to overcome

County Commission, District 8 (Democratic primary): Longtime Commissioner Walter Bailey is presumably strong enough to fend off a spirited challenge from former interim City Councilman Berlin F. Boyd. David Vinciarelli is also running.

County Commission, District 9 (Democratic primary): Commissioner Justin Ford is hoping his incumbency and family name are enough to hold off former school board member Patrice Robinson, who has money and serious endorsements, and Memphis Education Association head Keith Williams, who also has a network and good funding.

County Commission, District 10 (Democratic primary): The third time’s the charm for community organizer Reginald Milton, who has impressive across-the-board support against former school board eminence Martavius Jones (who’s running a stealth campaign), and newcomer Jake Brown, who does have Joe Brown’s backing.

County Commission, District 11 (Democratic primary): In a five-way race between Curtis Byrd, Donnell Cobbins, Eddie Jones, Hendrell Remus, and Claude Talford, the main contenders would seem to be Cobbins, Jones, and Talford.

County Commisson, District 12 (Democratic primary): Well-financed attorney and former Democratic Party Chairman Van Turner is a slam dunk over the little-known Bryant Boone.

Assessor (Republican primary): Mary Peters Royko may have a slight edge over Keith Alexander.

Assessor (Democratic primary): Incumbent Cheyenne Johnson should prevail easily over challenger Lorie Ingram.

Trustee (Republican primary): Incumbent David Lenoir is an easy win over Jeff Jacobs.

Trustee (Democratic primary): Derrick Bennett is considered to be leading frequent candidate M. LaTroy Williams, who, however, seems to have funding.

Circuit Court Clerk (Republican primary): The ever-popular Jimmy Moore in a walk over GOP newcomer Michael Finney.

Circuit Court Clerk (Democratic primary): Veteran Democrat Del Gill should win over Rhonda Banks.

Criminal Court Clerk (Democratic primary): Hard-running City Councilmember Wanda Halbert, current City Court Clerk Thomas Long, and prosecutor Michael R. McCusker are in a spirited three-way race. Once again, the deserving perennial Ralph White seems out of the running. 

Juvenile Court Clerk (Democratic primary): With her prominence as a Juvenile Court watchdog overriding her reputation for abrasiveness, County Commissioner Henri Brooks should prevail over former City Administrator Kenneth Moody, whose campaign never quite got started.  

Probate Court Clerk (Democratic primary): The seven candidates are Regina Beale, Jennings Bernard, William Chism, Jr., Darnell Gatewood, Sr., Cynthia A. Gentry, Aaron Hall, and Heidi Kuhn. The well-known Bernard, respected probate attorney Hall, and the hard-working Kuhn, wife of prominent consultant and former Democratic chairman, Matt Kuhn, are the best bets.

County Clerk (Democratic primary): Respected longtime Democratic figure John H. Freeman, supported by Mayor A C Wharton, is well positioned against Yolanda Kight and Charlotte B. Draper.

Register (Democratic primary): Coleman Thompson, who has run before, should prevail over the lesser-known Stephen Christian.

Incumbents Bill Oldham (Republican) and Bennie Cobb (Democrat) have no primary opponents in the race for Shelby County Sheriff. Also unopposed in the Republican primary are Richard L. DeSaussure III for Criminal Court clerk and incumbents Joy Touliatos, Paul Boyd, Wayne Mashburn, and Tom Leatherwood for Juvenile Court clerk, Probate Court clerk, Shelby County clerk, and Shelby County register, respectively.

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News The Fly-By

Sustainable Slammer

The inmates at the Shelby County Corrections Center could be living and working in a more eco-friendly facility later this year, as steps are being taken to conserve energy and save money at the prison that sits on more than 110 acres near Shelby Farms.

At a forum last month, Shelby County Department of Corrections Director James Coleman announced he and his staff would upgrade the prison to become a sustainable facility. Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell said that sustainability programs are part of Shelby County’s overall plan to reduce expenses and increase efficiency. Luttrell said the correctional system is a great place to start.

“It’s a huge facility that is costly to maintain,” Luttrell said. “Some of the buildings in the correctional facility date back to the 1930s. We want to see what we can do to maintain costs in an aging facility and at the same time be good stewards of the environment.”

After teaming up with Green Prisons Inc. and the Indiana Department of Corrections, the Shelby County Corrections Center has begun a cost analysis of greening the prison, looking into everything from solar-powered lighting to alternative cooking methods.

Coleman said that he is already developing a recycling program within the prison rather that outsourcing for recycling pick-up. Recycling within the prison would create jobs for inmates and save money by not going through a private company, Coleman said.

“There are a lot of savings to be realized, but it goes beyond that.  If we can get [the inmates] into a mindset of recycling, when they go home they can benefit the community even more,” Coleman said.

Tommy Norris, CEO of Green Prisons Inc., said more of America’s prisons will likely go green as taxpayers begin to save money from reduced energy cost.

“The reality is that prisons and jails toil away in the shadows. We take the folks who have not been able to function in society, and it’s out of sight, out of mind,” Norris said. “But what you will see is that correctional facilities will be in the forefront of this movement because of the huge opportunities for savings to the taxpayers.”

In addition to the Shelby County Corrections Center, the Shelby County Administration Building at 160 N. Main, will be among the first buildings to receive sustainable improvements.

Luttrell said that the two facilities will serve as the pilot project for the rest of the government buildings in Shelby County, and he hopes one building in particular will benefit as the project moves forward.

“We hope to be very aggressive with other buildings as the opportunity presents itself. [The] 201 Poplar [building] is a real energy sinkhole, and we want to try to tackle that building,” Luttrell said.

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Editorial Opinion

Money, Muscle, and Mind

The ceremonial grand opening last week of the expansive new Electrolux plant on President’s Island drew a distinguished group of celebrants, including company CEO Jack Truong, Mayors A C Wharton and Mark Luttrell, state Senate majority leader Mark Norris, and Governor Bill Haslam. They toasted the ghost of Christmas Future and predicted great things from the plant, which has been in operation already for four months, producing an array of state-of-the-art appliances.

Luttrell had another opportunity during the week to reference the plant. Delivering a version of his annual state-of-the-county message to Memphis Kiwanians at the University Club, Luttrell turned the coin and delivered a cautionary word from the underside.

The mayor emphasized the importance of education at large to issues like public safety and job creation, and said further economic development of the sort represented by Electrolux and Mitsubishi, the appliance behemoth’s near neighbor on President’s Island, depend on a constant upgrading of the community’s work force, particularly in the technological fields. As Luttrell noted, it is no secret that such development has been hindered by the inability of various interested industries to find people to step into the jobs that they already have — not to mention those that they might choose to offer to an appropriately skilled workforce. Luttrell hailed the willingness of Shelby County Schools superintendent Dorsey Hopson to “partner” with businesses in trying to upgrade basic skills.

Such educational bootstrapping is further dictated by the fact that PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) and other such discounting industrial incentives resorted to by local government are inherently subject to a law of diminishing returns. The general public infrastructure, which is or ought to be part of the bait for new industry, is increasingly in need of rehab — in large part because the public money to keep it in good repair is in scarce supply. To appropriate an old chestnut from the lay world, it takes money to make money.

More promisingly, large-scale development projects such as the recent completion of state Highway 385, linking Northwest Shelby County to Collierville and other points southeast, cannot help but spur economic activity. Further good news was the Tennessee Department of Transportation recently awarding a $109.3 million contract to finally finish the I-40/240 interchange in East Memphis. This project, which has a projected completion date four years hence, is a complement to TDOT’s ongoing widening project on the leg of I-240 stretching from Poplar to Walnut Grove.

Things are happening in our neck of the woods, but much remains to be done. It takes money, and muscle, and mind. All of that is where the commitment to educational partnering spoken of by Luttrell comes in.

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Politics Politics Feature

Getting Started

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

“Dear Friends,” began the open-letter email from District Attorney General Amy Weirich, “As one year ends and another begins, we naturally reflect and look forward. As your D.A. (and a wife and mother) I have been doing my fair share of that in the last few days.”

The “reflection” that followed amounted to a quick recitation of figures (“217 jury trials and 777 days in trial”) designed to show that the D.A. had succeeded in her “mission to pursue the guilty and protect the innocent.”

After closing out the communication a couple of paragraphs later, Weirich thought to add a postscript: “P.S. This new year is also a big election year, which means that I have to run for the full eight-year term as our D.A. Don’t forget to tell your friends and neighbors about the great work we are doing in the office!”

And, just in case that message somehow missed its mark, Weirich had scheduled an attention-getting extravaganza for this week. She enlisted some unusual helpers. As the headline of her second major email of the week put it, “HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS PARTNER WITH DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL TO BRING THE SLAM DUNK AGAINST BULLIES IN MEMPHIS.”

The Harlem Globetrotters?

As the email explained, the reigning clown princes of basketball — renowned for decades for their rare mixture of athletic ability and comedic talent — would be appearing with the D.A. at the Ed Rice Community Center in Frayser to help her dissertate on the “ABCs of Bullying Prevention.”

Alas, the lesson was not to take place, at least not on the appointed evening, Monday night of this week. The gods of weather had a perverse prank of their own — in the form of two days’ worth of bone-chilling near-zero temperatures, coupled with the possibility of precipitation, which forced Weirich’s office to issue yet another email, this one bearing a sad but candid message in the subject line: “Photo Op with Globetrotters and Attorney General cancelled.”

Even so, General Weirich surely deserved some points for the uniqueness of her aborted op. The Globetrotters!

Like any number of other incumbents, Shelby County’s Republican D.A. — anticipating a challenge from a Democratic opponent yet to be named, in a primary on May 6th — will be doing her best, all the way up to the countywide general election on August 7th, to find every means to maximize her visibility and to advertise her accomplishments.

Once again, it’s an election year, a big-ballot election year at that, with local, state, and federal offices up for grabs, including the full panoply of state judgeships, which — like the D.A.’s office — are only at risk every eight years.

Not coincidentally, other incumbents were also doing their best to be front and center as the New Year began.

Shelby County mayor Mark Luttrell, another GOP office-holder sure to face a Democratic opponent this year, also had an occasion scheduled, but, luckily for him, his was scheduled for next week, beyond the reach, it would seem, of bad weather.

The Luttrell event is to be a continuation, as an email from the county mayor’s office put it, of “his one-on-one meetings with citizens … to listen to their comments and suggestions,” a little less dramatic than Weirich’s evening of roundball but designed for similar effect. As Luttrell, all duty, wrote, “These visits give me the opportunity to speak personally with people about what’s important to them and how their ideas might improve our community.”

For the record, the next such opportunity is on Tuesday, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the mayor’s office in the Vasco A. Smith Jr. Administration Building downtown.

And there was 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat, who had an event scheduled — a “district issues meeting” — on Monday morning of the current week and went ahead with it, cold weather or no.

Afterward, he would say, in language similar to that of Weirich and Luttrell, and, like them, via an all-points email, “Hearing what my constituents have to say about the issues is very important to me.”  

Luttrell and Cohen, along with two more incumbents, Memphis mayor A C Wharton and city councilman Myron Lowery, had gotten a head start of sorts in communicating with their constituencies, starting last Wednesday at Lowery’s annual prayer breakfast at the Memphis Airport Hotel and Conference Center.

All four, addressing an audience rife with office-holders, candidates, and activists, reached beyond their specific bases with appeals for wider unity. (Unlike Cohen and Luttrell, Wharton and Lowery won’t face the voters until 2015.) Luttrell made a pitch for “civility,” Lowery cited a need for “trust,” and Wharton tried to bridge the current divide between himself and the council with the declaration, “I’m through with whose fault it is.” Cohen, with calls for increasing the minimum wage and extolling the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), and conscious that his audience included declared likely primary opponent Ricky Wilkins, seemed a mite more agenda-minded, but he, too, cited a need to look beyond narrow partisanship.

Even the congressman’s endorsement of host Lowery’s resolution of “No Confidence” for current GOP election administrator Rich Holden, the counterpart of a resolution passed last month by the Shelby County Commission, was couched in relatively bipartisan terms.

In any case, the New Year, with its full raft of election contests, is upon us, and there will soon be enough conflict and crossfire — locally, at least — to satisfy the most rabid partisans and pol-watchers.

• Statewide, an element of drama will be lacking. The declaration by Memphis Democrat Sara Kyle, hard upon the New Year, that she won’t take on Republican governor Bill Haslam virtually ended Democrats’ hopes for something more than a pro forma challenge — if even that — to the GOP’s political hegemony in Tennessee.

Kyle, a former member of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and the wife of state Senate Democratic leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), had been regarded as her party’s last chance. Nor, apparently, is there a serious Democrat to take on the other ranking Republican on the state ballot this year, U.S. senator Lamar Alexander, whose concerns, such as they are, are with state representative Joe Carr (R-Lascassas), his Tea Party opponent in the GOP primary.

The chief contests statewide this year will be regarding three Constitutional amendments on the November ballot — one that would abrogate any abortion rights in Tennessee that go beyond federal law; another that would make a state income tax unconstitutional; and a third that would make explicit the governor’s right (which has been contested) to make appointments to state appellate courts.

All three amendments are favored to pass.

• A corollary to the continuing decline of Democrats’ clout in Tennessee is the fact of hotly contested Republican primaries, where more and more the real decisions are being made. In Middle Tennessee, U.S. representative Scott DesJarlais (R-4th) has his hands full with a challenge from state senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), who is supported by the GOP establishment.

And there is the case of state senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), whose views are widely regarded as madcap and extremist (or at least inconvenient) within his own party ranks and is expected to be opposed in the GOP primary by Richard Briggs, a Knox County commissioner, and perhaps by other Republicans.

Campfield, who won national notoriety for numerous bills, including one to forbid the mention of homosexuality in elementary classrooms and another that would withdraw state financial aid from the households of failing students, received a dubious honor as the year got underway.

The website Wonkette bestowed its inaugural “S***muffin of the Year Award” to Campfield “for outstanding achievement in the field of trying to make life miserable for the people of State Tennessee.”

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News News Blog

Two Blighted Northaven Homes See New Life

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

A blighted Northaven home

There are more than 100 vacant, blighted homes in the area bordered by North Watkins, Benjestown, Robertson, and East Circle in Northaven, a community in north Shelby County.

But two of those homes have just received a facelift, and two families will be handed keys to the properties at 5171 Broken Oak Drive and 5036 Blacksmith Drive at a ceremony on Monday, July 29th.

The homes were renovated through a partnership between Shelby County government and the Northaven Community Development Corporation. For the past several years, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell’s office has been very involved in the revitalization of the Northaven neighborhood.

“Our partnership with the Northaven CDC is a major step towards revitalizing this area of north Shelby County. This time a year ago, these two homes were abandoned and vandalized. Now, they’re remodeled and they give a new look to the Northaven neighborhood,” said Luttrell.

The Northaven CDC, which is run out of Impact Baptist Church, plans to renovate two more houses at 5158 Corkwood Drive and 5306 Braden Drive soon.

The recent renovations and the planned ones are funded through a $36,000 donation to the Northaven CDC from Shelby County government. That money was part of a $600,000 agreement with Wells Fargo after allegations the company gave home loans to people that could not afford them. The money was earmarked specifically to be used for new home loans through Wells Fargo, repairing homes for the elderly and disabled, and for anti-blight initiatives in unincorporated areas of Shelby County.

To read more about the problems faced by residents of Northaven and their efforts to fight back, read this Flyer cover story.

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News The Fly-By

Q&A with Mark Luttrell

At a press conference earlier this month about a successful fugitive operation, Memphis police director Larry Godwin noted how happy he was to see a couple hundred more criminals behind bars.

“The more folks we can put in the sheriff’s jail, the better I feel,” said Godwin. Laughing, Shelby County sheriff Mark Luttrell remarked, “We always have room for one more.”

But Luttrell announced last week that that may not always be the case. He says the jail at 201 Poplar doesn’t allow enough inmates per guard, making it costly to operate. Also, the 2,500 inmates currently housed at the jail — it was built in 1981 to accommodate 1,400 inmates — are putting a strain on the building’s plumbing and electrical systems.

Though modifications have been made to hold the extra inmates, Luttrell believes the facility could only hold a few hundred more people before drastic costly modifications would be required. Instead, he’s asking the county to build a new jail that would hold 3,500 inmates. — By Bianca Phillips

Flyer: Is 26 years a full life sentence for a jail?

Luttrell: In the good old days, they’d build jails to last a hundred years. But with so many changes in approaches to corrections, 25 to 30 years is about the life span of a facility.

We could continue with the jail that we’ve got for probably another few years, but we’re going to have to spend a lot more money on it. In addition to the 2,500 inmates housed at the facility, we’re housing an additional 200 out at the Corrections Center.

How would a new jail affect staffing?

Our jail has very small living units. They’re 40-bed pods, and we have to have one officer for every 40-bed pod. We could very easily set up an arrangement with one staff member for about 60 to 80 inmates in a pod in a new facility.

We roughly have 1,100 staff for about 3,000 inmates now. We should be able to run a facility of 3,000-plus inmates with 800 staff if it’s constructed appropriately. We think that we can save about $20 million a year with a new facility.

How many more inmates can the jail house?

We should never gauge our law enforcement initiatives based on the jail population. If they’re bad enough to go out there and arrest, we’ll find space for them.

What would a new jail cost?

If we could build a facility for $200 million, which is a ballpark figure, and save $20 million a year, we could pay for that facility in 10 years.

Earlier this year, you rejected the idea of privatizing the jail. should we revisit that?

I’m not convinced that privatization will save us that much money without impacting operational efficiency. Privatization of jails is a relatively new field. When you think of privatization, it’s used mostly in managing prisons, not so much in managing jails. If we were privatized, we’d be the largest privatized jail in America, and I’m not ready to be the pilot project for jail privatization.

Where could the new jail be located?

We need about 75 acres to build a campus-style facility. If we build a high-rise, like we have at 201, we won’t need a lot of acreage. Then we’ll look at available property the county already owns.

One thing we have to take into consideration when we talk about building a facility away from downtown is the logistics of moving inmates from the facility to the courts downtown.

What would happen to 201?

That’s yet to be determined. There are a lot of old jails and prisons sitting around because they’re expensive to build and expensive to tear down. If we build a remote facility, we would probably end up using a couple of floors in 201 to house inmates we’d have to bring to the court. Also, I’d assume our receiving/discharge area would remain downtown, so we could probably use a couple of floors.