The Warren County Commission has named Septagon Construction as the manager of an upcoming project to expand the county jail.The county is planning to convert the sheriff’s administrative offices into additional jail space to accommodate a growing inmate population. The sheriff’s department would be moved to open space in the basement of the Warren County Courthouse.Septagon’s role as construction manager will be to oversee the costs, planning and progress of the expansion project while coordinating with an architectural firm, which has not yet been selected. Septagon will also advise the county in selecting and coordinating contractors for the expansion.Septagon was the only company to submit qualifications for the project in response to a county request, despite two other companies expressing interest, commissioners said. Commissioners approved hiring Septagon as the construction manager with a 3-0 vote Monday.Project costsThe final cost of the jail expansion won’t be determined until the county hires an architect, followed by a team of contractors. Officials have suggested a ballpark estimate of $2 million.That cost could go up or down, and Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner said they would look for ways to reduce the price. The project will be paid for from the county’s capital improvement fund, he said.There was about $903,000 in the capital fund at the beginning of 2017, and it is expected to increase to $1.5 million by the end of the year.“We’re probably not going to get into construction this year, as late as it’s getting,” Kluesner said. “By the time we get into it, we should have another tax cycle to add more funding.”Septagon has requested a base fee equal to 6 percent of the project cost, which would be $120,000 for a $2 million project. The company also has requested reimbursement for monthly costs, including $8,000-$12,000 per month for a construction manager, $700-$1,200 per month for office space and equipment, and any necessary costs of portable toilets and printed documents.Commissioners described hiring a construction manager as bringing in a watchdog that would be on the lookout for unanticipated costs and work to save the county money. Septagon has fulfilled that role in the past for construction of the county’s current administration building in 2010 and a previous renovation at the county courthouse and jail in 2012.Northern District Commissioner Dan Hampson said Septagon had prevented the county from breaking its budget on the $6.5 million administration building.“After Septagon got to looking at the plans, they said this building was going to cost $9 million,” Hampson said. “We wouldn’t have known about it until we were close to the end and were out of money.”Septagon helped bring the project back in line with what the county was expecting, he said.That role of forecasting costs and looking out for the county’s budget is what separates a construction manager from a general contractor, Hampson explained.“They’re going to cost us money, but in the long run they have an opportunity to save us money,” Kluesner added.Struggle for jail housingA spike in the number of local inmates is causing major space and budget concerns at the county jail. The two-story facility was built in 1997 to hold 106 occupants. A 2012 renovation added a 10-person dormitory, but the average jail population grew to 127 last year, Sheriff Kevin Harrison previously told the Warren County Record.As long as the jail is crowded with local arrestees, the county loses out on money from a contract to hold federal inmates. A lack of available space for those federal inmates is causing the county to miss out on an average of $550 per day, Harrison said.The county has come to rely on more than $600,000 in federal funding per year to run the jail, and could lose a third of that at the current pace.The sheriff and county commissioners met with an architect from Treanor Architects in February to begin planning for the expansion. The sheriff’s current offices are adjacent to the first floor of the jail, offering the least expensive option for more jail space. Officials have said they want to solve the crowding without any new tax.Treanor was the architecture firm that worked along with Septagon on the county administration building in 2010 and courthouse/jail renovation in 2012. The county will need to open the expansion project for architect bids, and Treanor likely will be one of the candidates.Judicial reliefOfficials also met with Presiding Judge Wes Dalton and Prosecuting Attorney Kelly King in March to discuss ways of reducing the jail population while expansion plans take shape.Dalton said he recently began pushing for cases to be wrapped up more quickly, either through plea agreements or a speedy trial. Clearing cases faster would open space in the jail by reducing the amount of time inmates spend there before going free or going to a state prison facility.The court also has added an additional day of legal hearings every month and is giving greater consideration to bond reductions for some inmates, Dalton said.Officials have expressed reservations about making it too easy to bond out of jail, however, saying that some people need to stay in jail to keep the community safe.Prosecutor King said the new policy of clearing cases faster has had a positive impact since going into effect in February.Warren County isn’t the only judicial district struggling with jail crowding. Franklin County officials are in the process of selecting construction management for a project to expand its jail and 911 communication center. Voters in Lincoln County rejected a proposition in the most recent municipal elections that would have raised the county’s sales tax by a half cent to fund construction of a new sheriff’s office and jail.Warren County Courthouse