The Greene County Sheriff's Office brought out all the bells and whistles Friday morning to dedicate the opening of the new Greene County Jail located off Division Street near the Springfield-Branson National Airport, which is expected to be fully functional and housing inmates within the month.
More thana hundred people from all over Greene County gathered in the sally port, or intake area, of the new jail as members of the Greene County Sheriff's Office and the Greene County Commission accompanied by members of local Masonic Lodge, the Sons of the American Revolution and members of the choir at Willard High School dedicated a cornerstone and officially showed the new jail to the public.
"This is a humbling day for the Greene County Sheriff's Office," Sheriff Jim Arnott said.
Representatives from the Greene County Commission also spoke during the event, highlighting what this new jail means to the community.
County Commissioner John Russell, 2nd District, called the jail a "solution" to many problems throughout the county.
"This building that we're in today is a solution," Russell said. "It's a solution to the substantial overcrowding that we've experienced at the jail for many years. It's a solution to the sheriff's department being housed in many buildings throughout the county for over 40 years, and it's a solution to the limited space and additional cost associated with the downtown jail."
Presiding County Commissioner Bob Dixon said the people of Greene County should feel proud.
"We can be proud as citizens and taxpayers," Dixon said. "This is one more way in which we are improving our criminal justice system making sure that we have adequate space for our inmates and a good facility for our deputies and detention officers."
While the event served as an opportunity for citizens to viewand tour the new jail, it also served as a cornerstone dedication that was overseen by the Masonic Lodge, a 100-year-old secret society.
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A traditional centuries-old Masonic ceremony was performed to test that the cornerstone, donated by Greenlawn Funeral Homes, was square, level and plumb. Several items that were to be stored behind the stone before its installation were also dedicated. Those included a card from every Greene County officeholder and judge in the 31st circuit, a coin provided by Sheriff Arnott and one honoring Deputy Aaron Roberts who died in the line of duty in 2018, a Masonic flag that was flown at the Capitol, a list of the Sheriff's Distinguished Posse in Service, and a Bible donated by a Masonic Lodge.
"This is an amazing building," said Dr. Ty Treutelaar with the Grand Lodge of Missouri. "This county has done some magnificent structures that we've been honored to be a part of, in dedications and cornerstones.This is amazing to us and we thank you for letting us be a part of this."
The cornerstone can be seen near the front entrance of the Greene County Sheriff's Office.
New jail, old problems
The new jail represents years of planning and collaboration between multiple county agencies and the public to combat the overcrowding issue in the current downtown jail. The process began in 2017 when voters passed a half-cent revenue sales tax to help fund the building of a new jail and a new home for the sheriff's office.
Now, nearly 5 years and $150 million dollars later, the 360,000-square-footjailis set to start housing inmates within the month after a few final details are finished.
Arnott did not disclose exactly when inmates would be moving in for "security purposes" but added that some staff with the sheriff's office has been working in the new office space for a few months now.
"We've never really been under one roof, and now we're able to move the whole operations, the jail and everything into one facility," Arnott said. "What's ironic is I have 621 employees, and where I was at before I got to see like 25 or 30, and so now I get to see them come in and go and have a better connection with everybody."
Arnott added that this will be the first time in 40 years the whole staff of the sheriff's office will be under one roof.
"It's something we've never been able to experience and we've always been kind of envious of other departments," he said.
County officials saidthe project has been on time and is actually coming in under budget, so much so that they were able to add in 25,000 square feet of space forevidence storage, training space for the sheriff's office and a water management system.
"Even with these additions we're looking to be under budget by about $1 million," Russell said.
The new jail will house 1,242 inmates which gives the department room to grow as the current population of the jail downtown is roughly 800.
"We've got space and we're able to spread out," Dixon said.
However, there are still concerns that the department could quickly outgrow the new space.But unlike with the downtown jail, there is still land available to expand the jail in the future.
"So going out instead of up saves the taxpayers' dollars year after year and year," Russell said. "All while keeping our community safe."
Officials say the new jail also serves as an opportunity to improve the efficiency of the jail's operations. The new jail will operate on a pod system that brings everything to the inmates instead of taking the inmates to places.
Officials say this will be more efficient and actually will mean the jail needs fewer detention officers, which will save money in the long run.
"We're able to save about $95 million on staff over a 20-yearperiod going forward," Dixon said.
One of the biggest concerns leading up to the opening has been staffing.According to Arnott, the department is still 63 deputies short of being fully staffed. However, he said he is not overly concerned, adding that hiring struggles are not unique to the sheriff's office.
"As always we'rehavingtrouble recruiting workers just like every business has been, but I think we've really been doing a fantastic job in spite of that," Arnott said. "I've actually got 15 applications on my desk to approve, so things are moving pretty good."
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Arnott added that he hoped once word got out about how the new jail functioned, it would entice more people to apply.
Though there are still some details to be worked out and paint to be touched up, members of the community in attendance seemedimpressed with the facility.
Grace Birdwell with Greenlawn Funeral Homes said she hoped the new jail would be a good thing for the county.
"It's a beautiful facility," Birdwell said. "It's something that's been a long time coming that will be a good resource for the community."
Sara Shadwick also said she was impressed with the facility, but added that she may be a little biased.
"Our daughter was one of the architects that worked on it so we're a little biased," she said with a laugh. "It's wonderful, it's going to be a nice facility for our community and it's well needed."
Jordan Meier covers public safety for the Springfield News-Leader. Contact her at jmeier@news-leader.com,or on Twitter @Jordan_Meier644.
