Dougherty County Public Works Committee tries again on jail HVAC replacement

ALBANY – After a committee recommendation for $11 million in jail renovations failed to have a hearing earlier this year from the Dougherty County Commission, the Public Works Committee has scaled back plans to $4.27 million.

Committee members Russell Gray, Anthony Jones and Chairman Ed Newsome unanimously approved the recommendation on Wednesday, and the committee also requested that the full commission consider the recommendation during the commission’s Monday meeting.

The 34-year-old heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, the same one installed when the Dougherty County Jail was built, has drawn concern from the committee and is part of an overall estimated $41 million in repairs needed at the facility.

The system has been rebuilt once during its lifetime, and a second rebuild would come with its own risks, consultant James Andrews Jr. with Macon-based AH&P Consulting Engineers told the committee on Wednesday.

“I would tell you that because of the age of these chillers, there are parts that are not manufactured anymore,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever known a chiller to be rebuilt twice. If the chillers go down, the jail’s going to go down. If you have a problem with the central system, you will have problems throughout the building.”

The pared-down proposal would replace only the two chillers that provide air-conditioning and two boilers that heat water and provide heat for the facility. The $11 million proposal also would have replaced all of the rooftop air-handling units for the sprawling facility.

County staff has identified up to $4.5 million in special-purpose local-option sales tax funds that could be used to move the project forward.

Commissioner Gloria Gaines, who is not a member of the Public Works Committee, questioned whether spending that money would drain county coffers to the point that it would not have funds for future emergencies.

“The question of how you pay for it and the question of how long it will take have to be addressed,” she said.

The old system is working toward the end of its operational life, and committee members said that a shutdown of the jail due to the failure of the heating or cooling system could mean having to house inmates at other facilities, a proposition that would cost the county heavily.

The clock is ticking because data centers, which are sprouting up across the country and have intense cooling requirements, are also in line to purchase equipment, Andrews said. That means there can be a lengthy wait for some of the equipment included in the proposal.

Meanwhile, a failure that results in costs associated with housing inmates in facilities out of town could break the county financially in a matter of months, Commissioner Russell Gray said. 

The committee recommended the $11 million in renovations during an April meeting, but Commission Chairman Lorenzo Heard did not allow that recommendation to be placed on the commission’s agenda for discussion.

A new system also would be more efficient, which would save the county money in the long run, Andrews told commissioners.

The estimate given is meant to be at the high end, and the county could benefit from ordering equipment through the state’s purchasing program that could cut costs significantly, he said.

“I always say there’s two things we need to do as county commissioners: produce a balanced budget on July 1 and maintain a jail,” Jones said. “Let’s move this jail forward.”