County OKs jail planning contract

Despite a cost that was more than twice what they originally expected, Spokane County commissioners tentatively approved a $736,690 contract Tuesday for architectural help in planning a new jail.

The contract with Spokane-based Integrus Architecture is subject to legal review after final revisions.

It calls for Integrus to be limited to fees agreed for various components of the job even if the work proves more difficult than expected. It does not include environmental reviews in two additional phases that could push the final cost to more than $1.2 million.

Commissioners were told that a primary reason for the higher-than-expected price is the county’s complicated rules for deciding where to put “essential public facilities.”

County Commissioner Todd Mielke said he was surprised to discover Tuesday that Whatcom County has an essential public facilities policy that requires only three sites to be reviewed, compared with the 10 Spokane County requires. Mielke said he thought Spokane County’s rules, developed before he took office, were dictated by state law.

John Pederson, who heads the county’s planning section, said the county policy was developed hastily – under state pressure to find places for sex-offender facilities “fairly quickly or we will do it for you.”

The idea of examining sites was to spread the potential burden to all sections of the county, Pederson said.

He said the policy has been used only once – last year, to choose a site for a sewage treatment plant – and might bear review.