By M. Scott Carter
Transcript Staff Writer
Cleveland County Commissioner Rod Cleveland is expected to meet with Norman architect Ben Graves, jail consultant Don Jones and officials with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office 9 a.m. today at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds to discuss the county’s new jail.
The meeting, confirmed by commissioner Rusty Sullivan, is being held “to gather information” about the jail, including its size and possible construction costs.
However, Sullivan and commission president George Skinner said they wouldn’t attend the meeting.
Cleveland’s meeting follows Monday’s unanimous vote by the commission to locate a new county detention center on a 28.92-acre tract of land located near Franklin Road and 24th Avenue NW. That land, which the county purchased in April for $1.3 million, was owned by York International.
For more than a year, commissioners have struggled with issues surrounding the county’s existing jail in downtown Norman.
Twice in 2006, state officials threatened the county with heavy fines, or possible closure of the facility, if the jail’s inmate population wasn’t decreased.
Since then, commissioners made plans to open a second jail facility and have examined more than 60 different locations, including the Franklin Road site, a plot of land near the Norman YMCA and a 240-acre site in Lexington next to the Lexington Assessment and Reception center.
This week, county official were told the jail averaged 213 prisoners during Sept. 13-19, 12 more inmates than the previous week. The facility was built to hold 177.
The commissioners’ next scheduled meeting will be 9 a.m. Monday at the Cleveland County Office Building, 201 S. Jones Ave.
M. Scott Carter366-3545scarter@normantranscript.com
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