County formally rejects state's offer to buy jail

Salt Lake County Council members have formally rejected a $7 million offer from the state to buy the mothballed Oxbow Jail.

But there may still be an outside chance that the state Department of Corrections could get the jail for use as a women's prison.

Several members of the Salt Lake County Council had met with met with corrections officials to discuss a lease option, which would give the 500-bed jail to the state for $1 per year, council chairman Steve Harmsen said. The deal would include sending some county inmates to the facility and a contract for prison inmates to do laundry for the county's Adult Detention Center.

The deal has caused some political rumblings in the county.

Harmsen said he would work with the mayor's office on the proposal and resolve the matter July 1. But Harmsen has left the matter hanging, an irked councilman Joe Hatch said. Harmsen, who has been out of town, is not doing what he said he would do, he added.

"The council had the opportunity to step up and show leadership and we dropped the ball," said Hatch.

Members of Mayor Nancy Workman's office who are aware of the proposal are cool to the idea, primarily given that they believe the council is improperly doing an executive function that should be reserved for the mayor.

In fact, Tuesday, Workman asked the council for $1.6 million so that Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard could reopen Oxbow himself. A vote on the budget request is expected June 17.

"The official statement is we're not commenting on any lease deal," corrections spokesman Jack Ford said.

Wrestling with overcrowding in both its male and female populations, corrections officials wanted Oxbow for a women-only facility. But a dragging conversation with the county forced corrections into looking at other options. About 50 female inmates have been transferred to county jails. And the department is considering other options, including renovating existing buildings on its Draper campus and building a brand new facility.

Last month, Utah lawmakers expressed an interest in long-term lease from Salt Lake County, directing corrections executive director to explore a possible deal.

But even with a bargain basement price, the state may not be able to afford the facility.

Lawmakers put no money in the 2004-05 budget for facility operations, despite a $2.5 million operations budget requests by corrections. Additionally, corrections would have to "harden" the facility, building the cells and installing the secure fencing required to house felons. And whether or not corrections could pay for renovations is unclear.