New jail idea now has an architect

A group of Garvin County officials have decided the time is right to bring in an architect with experience in designing a jail facility.

Getting the nod this week is Architects in Partnership, better known simply as AIP, which is a Norman architectural firm that really knows its way around lock-ups having designed multiple county jails in Oklahoma.

“I make the motion we accept AIP as the architect,” said District 2 Commissioner Gary Ayers as Kenneth Holden of District 1 and Mike Gollihare of District 3 made it a unanimous approval during a weekly meeting Monday.

The announcement came after the group met with Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes in a closed-door discussion.

“The next step is to start meeting with the architect we just retained,” Rhode said.

“We'll work on drawing up the design for a new jail. We'll also be looking at site locations.”

Just a week earlier the group also went behind closed doors to talk about the two proposals received from companies experienced in jail design and construction.

It was back in January when commissioners voted to seek proposals after Rhodes and architect Larry Blackledge announced they believed a new jail might be a better option than a planned project to remodel the current one.

At that time Blackledge suggested an architect with more experience in this area was the best way to go.

Before the announcement Blackledge had been working with the sheriff and his staff on plans to renovate and expand the current jail throughout the entire ground floor of the county courthouse's annex in Pauls Valley.

Space on the western side opened up after the district attorney and assessor offices moved up to the new second floor of the annex.

Plans appear to have dramatically changed when it was learned a renovation would not increase inmate capacity as much as originally believed.

After this week's meeting no details were available on the proposals submitted, including the one from AIP. They were expected to include designs for a new jail, “reasonable” cost estimates for construction and possible locations.

Previously Rhodes has said one possibility is a portion of property at the former Southern Oklahoma Resource Center south of Pauls Valley.

The site is now owned by the state Department of Corrections, which is in the process of renovating one of the buildings to establish a K-9 training facility for DOC owned dogs.

Although it's far too early in the process to know for sure, it's believed some type of measure to pay for the construction of a new county jail could possibly go before voters at some point in the future.