27-02-2025
Change of plans: Oklahoma County moves the new jail and care center (a bit) west
Oklahoma County commissioners have voted to move the new county jail — the one that hasn't been built yet — shifting it west because the design firm didn't know where the jail would be, and so didn't know the lay of the land around the site at 1901 E Grand Blvd.
It was all a matter of timing, mostly on paper, and the change plus others will cost little ― an extra $75,000 ― compared to the estimated $750 million price tag for the jail plus its $44 million Behavioral Care Center.
The Board of County Commissioners agreed to tweak plans and made a few other changes on Wednesday as St. Louis-based design firm HOK Group Inc., formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, and construction company Flintco LLC continue early work at the site five miles southeast of downtown.
HOK did a belated floodplain analysis.
"When we first contracted with HOK, we didn't have a site selected, so we didn't know if there were going to be floodplains to even deal with," county engineer Stacey Trumbo told commissioners. "There is one on the site that was finally selected.
"All that work has progressed that we know what the price will be, so we're now putting it in the contract, $35,000."
More: Criminal justice reform, new OK County jail hailed at mental health center groundbreaking
Also, related, the commissioners approved paying HOK $40,000 to:
Reconfigure a detention pond, relocate electrical utility equipment, rework grading and landscaping, rework floor levels between the Behavioral Care Center and the jail, and reroute storm water and sewer lines from Locke Supply Co., next door at 2101 E Grand Blvd., where they cross the 60-acre jail site.
"The plumbing company is on that site (adjacent), and they had a large detention pond that is spilling over into our land. We had to deal with that. Their sewer line also goes across our land. We had to deal with that, and a few other things," Trumbo said.
At no additional cost, the commissioners approved the first change order for construction of the Behavioral Care Center being built by Flintco: a change in plans.
"The set of plans in which they gave you the guaranteed maximum price were not at 100% plans. That's well documented. Now we have 100% plans, so we're just switching 100% plans into the contract. No change in price. No change in time of contract," Trumbo told commissioners.
Unrelated to construction, the Board of County Commissioners also approved paying HOK separately $35,000 for "public relations and community education services" in connection with the jail complex project through PR firm Schnake Turnbo Frank.
"This is actually for public information, public education, which you are allowed to spend money on. There are certain things you can't spend money on, but this one you can, and this is to have HOK to provide those services for you going forward," Trumbo said.
Government bodies may inform the public about tax and bond elections, but under state law are generally precluded from promoting specific election outcomes.
The bond election to raise $260 million toward construction of the jail was in 2022. Commissioners have floated the idea of an election for a county sales tax to help pay for it, and the Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory has recommended it.
More: Is the idea of a new Oklahoma County jail just a pipe dream? What about the health center?
Staff writer Richard Mize covers Oklahoma County government and the city of Edmond. He previously covered housing, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and starting in 1999. Contact him at rmize@
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma County Commission votes to move new jail location a bit west
