Murray moves ahead with jail expansion

Published 11:26 pm Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Murray County sole commissioner Jim Welch decided on Tuesday to borrow $8.5 million from Wachovia to begin expansion of the county jail and the county’s Hyden Tyler Road recreation facility. That money will be repaid from the proceeds of a six-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) approved by voters in September.

“We took nine bids from nine separate banks, and Wachovia was the low bidder at 3.79 percent interest,” Welch said.

He said he expects the money will be in the county’s account within the next 10 days.

In September, voters approved 87.47 percent to 12.54 percent a six-year, 1 percent SPLOST expected to raise $30 million.

“Sometime in 2008 we’ll probably go back and borrow another $3.5 million,” Welch said.

That SPLOST will fund, among other projects, an expansion of the jail that will double its current 120-bed capacity. Welch said the exact costs of the jail expansion won’t be known until it is put out to bid, but he hopes it will be around $8-9 million. The jail was built in 1992.

“Today, we had right at 119 prisoners. It will take us a couple of years to build, but we are right at capacity,” Welch said.

The SPLOST will also fund the construction of eight ball fields and a walking track at the Hyden Tyler facility at an estimated cost of $2.4 million.

Welch also approved the rezoning of approximately 300 acres on Old Highway 411 to suburban residential from agriculture. The rezoning was recommended 5-0 by the planning commission last week, but several residents of the area came to the meeting to oppose the move.

Welch placed some conditions on the rezoning, including that developers bring back a subdivision plan within 180 days. If a plan isn’t delivered, the zoning reverts to agriculture.

Welch said King George Partners LLC plans to build 119 homes on the property.

Welch also approved an amendment to the county code reducing the maximum road grade to 16 percent from 18 percent. The change will also require new roads with grades between 10 and 16 percent to be designed by a licensed and registered civil engineer.

Welch also approved a contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation for the repaving of 9-10 miles of county roads. The state will provide the materials and the county will provide labor. The roads covered by the agreement include Hawkins Road, Cobb Road, Walker Road, Old Grade Road, Doctor Johnson Road and Mary Avenue.

Welch said the county will repave another 10 miles or so of county roads on its own this summer.