Today the Jerome county commissioners voted 2 to 1 to continue with a study looking to the possibility of building their own jail facility.
Charles Howell says, "Can we afford it or can we not afford it all by ourselves, that's what we're trying to figure out."
The Jerome County Jail may have been adequate for these former sheriffs'. Today it's a different story.
Commissioners are now looking at the possibility of building a new jail on their own.
They’ve hired rocky mountain corrections for 10-thousand dollars to study the option of going it alone.
Charles Howell says, "We don't feel its prudent to not have all the facts and figures that we need to make informed decisions of which way to go, i mean we're not stuck on we need to have a facility of our own, we're not stuck on that one by any means."
Commissioners have already had studies done on two other possibilities of building a jail.
The first was to get on board with a regional jail with a number of other counties.
The second is to do a joint venture with possibly Twin Falls County or neighboring county with state help.
The third study will look at how much going it alone will cost of the county and if it’s even possible to do so.
Howell says, "if this study tells us that we cant afford one by ourselves then we may have to go back and see if we cant do a joint facility with numerous other counties or out side help from the state or twin falls or other areas where we may not have looked at in the past."
The new study will also look at possible sights to build or use for a jail. chairmen Charlie Howell says near the airport, the old Con Paulo’s building, old school buildings, even a joint facility with the national guard have been tossed around as possible resting places for the jail.
Commissioner Diana Obenauer voted against moving forward with the study because the county had already spent money on two other studies and said questions in the new study should have been answered already.
Benito Baeza KMVT News.