On May 24 the Hays County Commissioners Court hired Turner Construction as the construction manager at risk to handle the potential building of a new county jail, law-enforcement center and colocated communications center.

Commissioners plan to place a bond on the November ballot, which will ask county residents whether they support the issuance of general obligation bonds to fund construction of the new facilities. Hiring the contractor will help commissioners put a specific price tag on the project.

Brenda Jenkins, senior vice president of ECM International, said the committee helping to craft the bond proposal—including Commissioners Debbie Gonzales-Ingalsbe and Will Conley—interviewed three firms on May 23, and Turner was the strongest candidate.

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“This is an important step as we move forward in this process … this will give us the numbers we need to present to voters,” Gonzales-Ingalsbe said. “It’s very important for them to be able to make that informed decision.”

County Judge Bert Cobb said his concern throughout the planning project for the new jail has been the size, cost and functionality of the jail.

“Will it be functional for the next 50 years in some way?” Cobb said. “That’s the lifespan of these government buildings. Expandability was always one of my major concerns.”

Conley said the significance of the law-enforcement center and colocated communications center get lost because construction of a new jail is such a major endeavor.

Growth in the county has necessitated the hiring of more officers, which also grows the administrative side of the sheriff’s office and the county justice system. The county has reached a point where it can no longer accommodate growth at the current law-enforcement center.

The colocated communications center has been a subject of discussion among the different emergency response entities in Hays County for many years, Conley said. If built, the new center will bring all emergency dispatch and communications staff under one roof, which county leaders believe will improve response times and the ability to respond quickly to disasters and other situations.

The county’s emergency response team operated in a colocated facility during the All Saints’ Day flood last year, and Conley said the results indicated response times and communication between different entities was improved.

“Without a doubt we operated more effectively and more efficiently,” Conley said. “I haven’t heard one public safety officer in this county say otherwise in multiple jurisdictions. That is significant. … The jail is big, bad and ugly and gets a lot of headlines and a lot of attention, but let’s not forget the significance of those other two needs as it plays a vital role in the short- and long-term efforts at public safety in Hays County.”