Following last month’s failed $12.6 million jail bond referendum in Greene County, organizers are looking to give it another go.

The bond was not to exceed $12,685,000 that would’ve included everything with the project, such as construction, surveying, and equipment purchases for a new county jail to be built on the property with the law enforcement center administrative building on East Lincoln Way in Jefferson. The measure needed a super majority to pass, and those who voted in favor of it were just over 57-percent. 

Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams shares his thoughts on the election results.

“I thought we did really well. We’re going to try again next September with a special election.  We’ve found some of the weak points in the campaign to get the jail bond passed and I’m going to address those with mailers and some more cable tv type stuff to get the word out on the jail.”

County Attorney Thomas Laehn was encouraged by the November election results and believes some possible confusion for some voters was that the choices were old jail versus new jail.

“And that’s not the choice. The choice is new jail or no jail. We have a building that is not complaint with the (state) code. The (state) jail inspector who inspects our jail has essentially grandfathered us in for a very long time. But has told us that in 2-3 years he will have no choice but to shut down our jail.” 

Laehn points out if that happens, it will lead to a domino effect for county taxpayers that would essentially pay more to transport inmates to other jail facilities, along with vehicle maintenance and taking deputies out of county to do that. 

The targeted date for another jail bond vote would be September of 2023.