It’s become known simply as “the jail situation.” With an ever-increasing overcrowding issue and the lack of funding to build, expand or update the Lawrence County Jail the Lawrence County Commissioners began to explore another option: taking over the now-closed Ohio River Valley Juvenile Correctional Facility in Franklin Furnace.

On Thursday the commission voted 3-0 to move the jail to that location in Scioto County.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in March offered the facility to the county for its jail, which is currently being operated in noncompliance and some officials questioned if the county could afford the move while also considering the prospect of the state shutting down the jail because it houses more inmates than is allowed by law. The 27-bed jail routinely houses around 80 inmates and repeatedly fails state inspections. The jail would operate out of the facility in conjunction with STAR Community Justice Center.

Commission president Les Boggs said a hearing this past Tuesday garnered information from testimony by the Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless, county auditor Jason Stephens, members of the public, the department of youth services, the department of rehabilitation and correction, Gov. John Kasich’s office and state representatives.

“We do not take something like this lightly,” Boggs said. “I have been a commissioner since 2009 and, frankly, this is the toughest decision I have ever had to make. We have studied all the facts very circumspectly.”

Boggs briefly discussed the pros and cons of the situation.

“We have a building sitting empty the taxpayers have already footed the bill for,” he said. “Approximately $40 million or so has been expended on this facility that now sits empty. That building doesn’t necessarily belong to any individual or entity; the taxpayers paid for that. The 2015 (jail) standards will soon be released and our current jail we already know will not meet those standards. The facility is, I wouldn’t say antiquated, but it’s really close to it.”

Boggs lauded the ORVJC facility for its 36 acres of land, better accommodations and safety for staff.

“We are not doing this so inmates can receive extra luxury,” Boggs said. “Most people around here don’t care if (the inmates) have to sleep on a mat or not but the state doesn’t see things like everybody else.”

One of the positives highlighted by Boggs is the sharing of utilities, laundry and food services.

“If we say no we do not want this facility that’s been offered to us graciously, at the end of this year we would have to start farming out about 50 prisoners that would cost us $912,000 a year not counting transportation costs,” Boggs said. “This commission is not going to kick the can down the road and leave this to other commissioners. We’ve been very proactive in many projects and many concerns.”

If the jail were only allowed to house 27 prisoners, that would cost the county $2,604,675 or $1,104,675 more than the current jail budget because of the cost of housing additional prisoners out of the county. If the jail were shut down, that figure would go up to $2,722,372 or an additional $1,222,372.

The move, if nothing else, buys the commission time to search for an alternative to the current jail.

“I think every single person in Lawrence County would like to have the jail in Lawrence County,” Boggs said. “This would buy us a little bit of time but doesn’t relieve our responsibilities to start looking for a place, pricing and things like that. We have to look at several things as commissioners: can we afford this, can we afford not to?”

The 15-year lease is for $1 a year and the commission estimates it being a six-month project for the facility getting brought up to standards. The state will spend $542,000 toward the upgrades.

“These facts might seem small,” Boggs said, “but when you look into each one they are very convoluted, multifaceted and we get paid to make tough decisions. It doesn’t matter the decision someone is happy and someone is unhappy.”

Commissioner Bill Pratt agreed with Boggs’ assertion in regard to difficult decisions but iterated tougher decisions lie ahead.

“I think this is actually a pretty easy decision,” he said. “The difficult decision will come in November when we try to prepare our budget for the following year and the year after. I think our county government will look drastically different than it does today in a couple years, but our job is to provide certain services by law and a lot of the extra services we provide may not be there. We have said from the beginning that public safety and emergency services are the top priority of the county government, or any government, and we should provide for that. If we all agree it will make all this easier to do.”

Pratt said future budgets would likely undergo a “top to bottom change.”

Commissioner Freddie Hayes Jr. admitted the decision was difficult but also said he knows such things come with the territory.

“This is the toughest decision I’ve had to make,” Hayes said. “When I decided to run for this job one of my main concerns was public safety and I’ve tried to support the sheriff, who does a great job, and our emergency services. One of our main jobs is to protect the people of Lawrence County — I believe that 100 percent. I would like to see a new jail, there’s no question about it, but that would mean more taxes and we are just about taxed out in this county. I’m not saying we can’t do it down the road, but we need something to fix this problem right now. It’s going to be hard on (Jeff Lawless) with what he has to work with, but it’s going to be hard either way we go. We have a jail now that’s (in) terrible (shape).”

Boggs added that a monetary increase would most likely occur regardless.

“Either way — if we do it or if we don’t do it — we’re going to have to spend more money than we currently are,” he said. “We want to look at which one can we get the most benefit out of.”