The safety of the public, Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, and county inmates are at stake during a special election for an $8.7 million bond referendum Tuesday.

All eight Guthrie County voting precincts will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m.-8 p.m., asking residents if the County should enter into a loan agreement to build a law enforcement center addition to the county courthouse and make improvements to the parking lot to address drainage issues. The current county jail is not in compliance with state code, and while the state administrator has historically let the jail remain open otherwise, the jail could get shut down if the referendum doesn’t pass with a 60% majority.

Deputy Kent Gries shares how the over 50-year-old, 10-person capacity jail affects their law enforcement, “Often times, unfortunately due to manpower or the amount of time it would take to drive somebody to an Audubon County Jail, Carroll County Jail, or a Boone County Jail, and in some cases even the Adams County Jail, we choose to cite an individual who would normally be arrested. The reason for that is, is we have not had room in our current facility for probably close to a year for females.”

The cost of housing inmates at out-of-county facilities from December 2018 to November 2019 totaled about $47,000, excluding transportation and labor costs estimated at $29,000 per year. The proposed 14,800 square foot addition would hold a capacity of up to 32 inmates, with five classification units separating them based on gender, danger risks, and age. For more information on the referendum and proposed facility, visit here.