Measure for new Jackson County Jail fails to pass

Sheriff Nathan Sickler spoke to NewsWatch 12 with his reaction to the results.

Jackson county jail measure will not be passing.

Sheriff nathan sickler has been trying to get a new jail built for years.

This the break down of results so far.

More than 70 percent of voters have turned it down so far.

The current jail has a maximum capacity of 315 inmates.

In 2019- the jail had to released more than 4-thousand people because there wasn't enough space for them.

Newswatch 12's brian morton spoke with sheriff nathan sickler earlier about the election outcome.

Brian says: the jackson county jail measure is looking like it will not pass tonight.

Sheriff nathan sickler joins us now.

Thanks very much for being with us, sheriff.

Sickler says: yeah, thanks for having me.

Brian says: so it looks like the numbers didn't exactly go your way, at least from the unofficial returns.

What's your reaction.

Sickler says: well, you know, i mean, he's a little disappointed.

Of course, you know, this is a big project and it's something that we believe is really important for our valley.

But at the same token, you have to respect what the vote or say and, and, uh, uh, just go with the, uh, the results and move forward.

You know, there's no sense looking backwards at this point.

And, uh, we'll do the best that we can with what we have and continue to try to make improvements and keep jackson county's today.

Brian says: so when you say move forward, is there a chance you might come back with a different type of plan or a different way to finance that plan in the future?

Um, you know, it's such a big project and the operating costs that were built into this, uh, district, um, really the, the expense of the project.

So, you know, right now i, with the, the results of the, of the.

District, uh, as far as how many people were opposed to it, i can't see us coming after anything similar in the near future.

I think that's a pretty loud and clear.

Um, no, but you know, obviously there's probably some impact from, you know, the pandemic, but i don't know that it was that much.

So i think, you know.

Taxes aren't real popular.

And the only way you're going to pay for a big facility is, is going to be increased taxes.

So, you know, maybe we look in the future at a, at a new facility that's, uh, you know, small, but that's not going to really provide the, the relief to the criminal justice system that we, that we need.

So, you know, we'll just have to regroup and, you know, um, see what we can come up with.

Brian says: when you say looking at different physical structure possibility, would that be something that wouldn't be twice the size of the current one or, or a satellite setup or what, what kind of concept?

Sickler says: i mean, when you look at like the economy of scale, when we looked at this proposal, you know, we looked at 500 beds, 600 beds, 700, 800, and really when it came down to it, the construction cost, um.

Wasn't that much less to do a smaller project, you know, because once you start getting all the infrastructure in to build, you know, the square footage is a square footage, but it's really, uh, you know, not that much of a difference when you're talking about, you know, a, say a 600 bed versus an 800 bed.

It just didn't pencil out to even build a 600 bed.

Uh, the operating cost is where we incur the ongoing expenses, which will need funding for, i mean, so, you know, we'll just have to.

I think the best plan is going to try to make, do wite at we currently have.

Ian says: we appreciate your time on a busy night for you.

Ank you veryuch.the klamath couf says county the klamath much.