On Tuesday morning, the Ector County Commissioners’ Court heard from HOK representative Jeff Bradley about recommendations for eliminating areas for the new juvenile detention center.
There were five areas that Bradley recommended that could be eliminated, which included cutting the number of beds from 64 to 32, that would bring the facility cost to about $26 million.
Despite reducing 18,000 square feet from the originally planned facility, the project cost is still $1 million dollars over budget.
“In my mind, you are going to knock a couple million more off of it to get it down below the 25 because you are going to have change orders and all kinds of things that fluctuate,” Ector County Commissioner for Precinct 1 Mike Gardner said after the meeting.
Gardner added: “I’m not willing to bend a whole lot of it.”
Bradley spoke to the Court for about 20 minutes and laid out the cuts that were made from the original plan. The five areas that could be eliminated would be two housing units, sally port, vocational area and two recreational yards.
The youth center, which is currently at 1401 E. Yukon Road and has been in that location since 1974, will relocate to 1801 S. Crane Ave. and sit to the west of the Ector County Sheriff’s Office. After the meeting, Bradley spoke to the Odessa American and said that contractors that didn’t initially bid on the project earlier this year approached him about the juvenile detention center.
“Contractors called me the last couple of weeks,” Bradley said. “They want it.”
Ector County Youth Center Director Kevin Mann sat in the gallery while Bradley gave his recommendations. Mann said he currently has enough staff to watch over 32 kids.
The proposed facility has four separate pods that can house eight kids each. The proposed facility would be nearly 49,000 square feet. There would also be a separate area for probation, as well as keeping kids who are coming into the facility away from those leaving the facility.
“The county hasn’t done anything in 50 years,” Bradley said. “The types of kids have changed. Their offenses have changed. The environment that they are in isn’t conducive to rehabilitation. The staff does everything that they can with what they have.”
Gardner said Tuesday that he believes the Court should hold off on making a decision on the juvenile detention center until January as a new judge and a new commissioner are set to join the Court.
“From my point of view, I think the Court should wait and talk about what we want to do going forward,” Gardner said. “I don’t know if it would be fair for us to make that decision.”
The court also:
- Approved a resolution authorizing the annual County grant for Odessa Meals on Wheels and a budget amendment to General Fund, Economic Development, Other General Expense, 001-330-5402 from Unreserved Fund Balance, 001-3310 for $218.
- Approved the purchase of 20 HI LITE Bulletproof vests.
- Approved the purchase of one Kinetic Breaching Technology tool.
- Approved the Cyber Security Training procedure, and to allow Bianka Lopez to be the TAC Cyber Security Administrator.
- Approved to appoint Commissioner Mike Gardner to the Policy Board for the Permian Basin Metropolitan Planning Organization.
- Approved to appoint Commissioner Mike Gardner to the MOTRAN Board (Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, Inc.).
- Approved to appoint Commissioner Greg Simmons to the Odessa Partnership Board.
- Approved to appoint Commissioner Greg Simmons to be the Ector County representative for the Stakeholder Meetings hosted by ORMC.
- Approved the contract with Kofile for the plat preservation project that was approved for FY 22-23 to be funded from the Record Archive Fund.
- Approved necessary action regarding the revised Internet Use Policy for Ector County.
- Approved a FY 2023 budget amendment to General Fund, County Court At Law #2, Departmental Furniture & Equipment, 001-150-5199 from Unreserved Fund Balance, 001-3310 for $1,316.
- Approved a FY 2023 budget amendment to Law Library, New Books, 003-700-5201 from Unreserved Fund Balance, 003-3310 for $6,000.
- Approved a FY 2023 budget amendment to Sales Tax Fund, Animal Control, New Building, 005-361-5503 from Unreserved Fund Balance, 005-3310 for $25,000.
- Approved a FY 2023 budget amendment to General Fund, Library, Subscriptions, 001-690-5207 and to Library E Rate Revenue, 001-4115 for $12,884.
- Approved necessary action regarding the Ector County Monthly Treasurer’s Reports for June 2022 and July 2022 and to request that the reports be filed with the official minutes of this meeting.
- Approved necessary action regarding the Ector County Monthly Treasurer’s Reports for August 2022 and September 2022 and to request that the reports be filed with the official minutes of this meeting.
- Approved the Accounts Payable Fund Requirements Report for November 8, 2022 to review County financial statements and reports.
