Vision 2025 surplus, location of juvenile center are issues at county town hall

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.儲存Jan. 22--About 50 people showed up at Tulsa Community College's West Campus on Tuesday evening for the fifth town hall meeting on the county's proposal to build four new pods at the Tulsa Jail and a new juvenile justice center.As with the previous meetings, there was little public questioning of the need for the new facilities.People instead wanted know whether surplus Vision 2025 sales tax funds could be used to pay for the projects and whether it makes good sense to build the new juvenile justice center on Archer Street near the jail, one scenario being considered by the county.The center will replace the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau at 315 S. Gilcrease Museum Road.County Commissioner Ron Peters and District Attorney Tim Harris said the only way the surplus funds could be used to pay for the proposed projects would be if county residents vote to repurpose them for that reason.Even then, the first $45.5 million in surplus has already been promised to Tulsa's suburbs, officials said, and the surplus funds would not be available until at least 2017.But Peters indicated that he would be open to putting the issue to a vote of the people and that he has been assured that the county could use the funds to pay off the bonds early on the proposed 15-year funding package.The county is considering using 0.067 percent of the city's Fix Our Streets sales tax for 15 years to pay for the projects. The tax, scheduled to expire June 30, would become effective July 1."I think as soon as we possibly could, we go back to the p迷你倉ople, see how much surplus the county has and ask them to repurpose it, and we could retire the bonds" early, Peters said.Speaking on the juvenile justice center location, Commissioner Karen Keith said the county is considering a few locations, including the former Adult Detention Center on Charles Page Boulevard."We are definitely looking at some other options," Keith said. "Interesting community feedback on this point has been good for us.County officials have estimated that the jail pods would cost $8.8 million and the juvenile justice center $45 million. The sales tax would also provide an estimated $1.7 million a year for operation and staffing of the new jail pods.Tulsa County Sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark said some of the additional pods would be designed to address the large number of inmates with mental health issues -- a population he estimated to be at least 300 a day.That, coupled with overcrowding and a high turnover rate for detention officers, has created a problem that cannot be ignored any longer, Clark said."This is kind of a last-ditch effort," he said. "Something has to be done."Tulsa County District Judge Doris Fransein painted a similarly bleak picture of the Juvenile Bureau, where overcrowding and run-down facilities have become the norm."We don't need to add to their confusion," she said of the young people who arrive at the facility with their lives in disarray.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage