Securitecture Gives Design Update on Delta County Service Center

By Rachel Leber

ESCANABA, Mich. — Joseph Mrak, president of Securitecture in Noblesville, Ind., gave Delta County Commissioners an update on the creation of a new correctional facility that will be located on 23rd Ave. at the Delta County Service Center in Escanaba on Aug. 15. Securitecture was the architectural firm chosen for the project.

Mrak gave commissioners a detailed update on the status of the project’s design during the meeting, with the first part including a summary of two bid packages, and the final section of the presentation including site plans for the project, with 2D and 3D renderings of the new correctional facility’s floor plans as well as 3D renderings of the facility’s exterior.

The county is on course to break ground for the new correctional facility in late August, with Miron Construction headquartered in Neenah, Wis., serving as the construction manager (CM) for the jail project, due to the company’s extensive experience with modern jail projects. As construction manager, Miron Construction will be responsible for planning, scheduling, logistics, subcontracting and safety regulations for construction on the jail. In addition, the company will guarantee a maximum price for the jail’s construction.

At a previous board meeting in March when Miron was chosen as CM, the board also approved a budget amendment allowing the county to temporarily borrow money for the project from its residual equity fund, which will allow the county to pay for costs associated with the jail project while attempting to secure funding from USDA Rural Development. As part of the motion, the board authorized the appropriation of $1 million for the jail project from the residual equity fund.

“This is just to actually set up that account so that we can borrow from ourselves,” said County Administrator Ryan Bergman in an interview with the Daily Press.

Amongst many orders of business that were discussed during the recent August meeting, as related to county corrections, the committee voted to end the county’s work van program for inmates. This decision was made in response to difficulties finding qualified inmates and a few incidents in which narcotics had been smuggled into the current Delta County Correctional Facility on 3rd Street in Escabana.