The long awaited renovation of kitchen and laundry facilities at the Fremont County Jail will begin August 29th after a construction bid was awarded at a special meeting. The Fremont County Board of Commissioners met in special session on August 4th and awarded a bid of $2,592,288 to Nunn Construction of Colorado Springs. Fremont County Manager Sunny Bryant said Nunn was one of two contractors that bid on the project and their original bid of $2.64 million was the low bid. Bryant said that after interviews with both contractors by the architect, the Sheriff, and other county officials some items were eliminated and other prices negotiated to settle on the final bid price.
The jail renovation is no small undertaking since food and laundry service for the jail inmates must continue while the kitchen and laundry areas are being renovated. Sheriff Jim Beicker said he has worked out an arrangement with the Department of Corrections to handle inmate laundry. Beicker said a lease has also been arranged with the City of Florence for the jail’s food service contractor to temporarily relocate to the full commercial kitchen facilities in the basement of the Florence Municipal Building. Those commercial kitchen facilities were part of the former St. Joseph’s Hospital.
There will some other costs associated with the jail renovation. The county will have to buy a truck for transporting inmate meals from Florence to the jail three times every day. Undersheriff Ty Martin estimates there will also be some extra security costs associated with keeping the construction area inside the jail secure during the estimated four month construction period.
Renovation of the jail’s kitchen and laundry facilities was among the capital improvement priorities outlined by the Sheriff when he asked voters to approve a one cent sales tax increase three years ago.