Time may be running out for Guthrie County to place a bond referendum vote for a new county jail in November, as the sheriff urges the Board of Supervisors to move forward on the project next week.

The County has been in talks with Shive-Hattery Architecture and Engineering for over a year on a new law enforcement center and has also hired The Samuels Group as the project manager, who has helped refine the costs of the project, and Northland Securities for pre-bond financing on $8.4 million for a jail addition and courthouse parking lot reconstruction, as proposed by the Board. This week’s Supervisors meeting agenda included action on a marketing communications plan to inform the public for a vote this November. After being presented a property tax structure analysis, Supervisor Mike Dickson requested that they see a 15-year structure on what it would cost the County to not build any new facility.

Sheriff Marty Arganbright comments on this scenario, “There isn’t an option of ‘do nothing’ because our jail is out of code, it’s outlived its life, we’re full. We have to do something so that’s what we need to figure out. I’m going to continue to push forward and get this done one way or another.”

Arganbright adds that if the County pushes the referendum to the next possible date of March, construction costs are expected to increase by four-percent. The Board tabled action on the jail, and architect Mike Lewis is expected to bring the cost figures as requested at next Tuesday’s meeting. The Supervisors reasoned that they want to know which option is ultimately cheaper before they speak to constituents, especially with another bond vote expected from the City of Guthrie Center for a pool bathhouse project.