Staff writer
Three residents on North Roosevelt Street presented a petition Monday to Marion City Council with signatures from residents on Coble, Roosevelt, Freeborn, and Cedar streets from Kellison to Main Street who oppose the proposed location of a county jail.
Pat Smith, the presenter of the petition, said she was not opposed to a jail, just didn’t want it across the street from where she lives.
“It’s not the city’s decision to put it there,” councilman Gene Winkler said. “It’s really the county’s decision.”
Smith said she knew that but was unhappy with the decision and wanted the city to be aware of that.
“We don’t want a jail over there. It’s too close to a residential area. It’s going to affect the values of our homes,” she said. “If I was going to buy a home in that area, I would be very reluctant to buy (with a jail across the street). They (the county) are going to take whatever they can get to fill the 72 beds.”
Marion County Commissioner Dan Holub also was in attendance at the meeting and said the county would be selective with the type of prisoners housed in Marion.
“We’ll get the low impact prisoners like the DUIs, child support payment offenders,” he said. “That is the standard across the state when prisoners are farmed out. We’d specify in the contracts with the other jails what types we’ll accept.”
He continued that Butler County is taking medical prisoners. The jail will have no windows and will be shielded from the neighborhood with trees and other screening, causing no visual impact on the neighborhood, Holub said.
Smith said she sees prisoners outdoors every day at the current jail location and “I see nothing worse than the situation we have now.”
Holub acknowledged Smith’s concerns and said the county was aware of the situation with prisoners in the courthouse yard and small children in close proximity.
But with the new facility, the public would never see prisoners in orange jump suits at the jail. All transporting to and from vehicles would be indoors. An exercise room would be indoors. The only indication that the facility is law enforcement will be vehicles, Holub said.
“The jail has been downtown for years. The problems are still there. What you’re doing is transferring the problem from one area to another,” Smith said.
She then asked why the proposed jail facility was one story. If it was multi-storied it could be built where the current jail is located. Holub explained that the construction of a jail facility is expensive and doing a multi-story building wasn’t feasible.
Councilman Stacey Collett asked Smith where she would like to see it.
“It could go by the highway (U.S.-56) where we can’t see it,” Smith said. “Either that or downtown … I’m not here for alternatives. I’m here for the petition.”
Later when Marion Planning Commission Chairman Roger Schwab addressed the council, he said the project would have to go before the planning commission before it could be built and the commission would require screening.