Jail medical wing to add 60 beds

♦ County officials are calling for proposals from construction management firms to handle the SPLOSTfunded project.

The Floyd County Commission is moving forward with plans for a new medical and mental health wing at the jail, anticipating the award of a contract in September.

Proposals and qualification packets are due Aug. 28 from prospective construction management firms. The contract is capped at $5.7 million and the firm would assume the risk with a guaranteed maximum price.

Plans developed by consultants Peacock Partnership Inc. call for 60 beds, in a mix of dormitories and individual cells.

The jail at 2526 New Calhoun Highway currently has five medical cells, to serve an inmate population that regularly tops 600 a day. One is a padded cell for patients undergoing a substance abuse or mental health crisis. Another is an isolation cell with separate ventilation for patients with contagious diseases.

Voters approved a $2.2 million earmark in the 2013 special purpose, local option sales tax package. Another $5.2 million will come from the 2017 SPLOST that starts collection when the current one expires on March 31, 2019.

County Manager Jamie McCord said the existing medical clinic, a training room and a vacant pod would be combined to house the new facility. Separate areas for men, women and “special needs” patients are planned, along with a waiting room, triage area and exam rooms.

“The first step is to build a new training center — it’ll be an ‘L’-shaped addition outside the sheriff’s office — so we can move all that stuff out,” McCord said.

“They’ll also have to plan out construction so the

facility remains secure,” he added. “We can’t just shut it down while they work.”

The construction could be broken down into two phases and awarded in separate contracts, depending on the response the board gets from potential bidders. Presentations from the top qualifiers are slated to be held in early September, with recommendations going to the County Commission midmonth.

The work will include demolishing the existing medical facility and building new cells and housing units.

Once the construction management firm is selected, officials still anticipate a lot of discussion with the board, the sheriff and the design team on how the work will proceed.

National standards call for a jail to have at least 5 percent of its beds in a medical unit. McCord said the existing clinic has been averaging 30 to 40 patients a day.