VIGO COUNTY, Ind — Vigo County Commissioners and Council members toured the old jail on Tuesday to see its current state and visualize the future of the property.
“There was a lot of disgusting comments from ceiling tile to floor leaks and things like that,” Vigo County Commissioner, Chris Switzer said. “There was some comments about knocking it down and some comments about remodeling it and keeping it for storage or something like that,” Switzer added.
Vigo County Councilman, Todd Thacker, says he’s still on the fence about what the property should function as in the future.
“Initially, I thought that we could repurpose anything,” Thacker said. “And I think it can, but we just got to figure out what’s the cost versus tearing it down and build something new. Because then, if you build something new, you got something that’s going to last another fifty years. But this ones already had 45 years of existence.”
A study released by DLZ, the company that built the new Vigo County Security Center, outlines several options for the future of the old jail property, with costs ranging from 5 million to 40 million dollars.
Switzer said a main priority is getting dispatch moved out of the basement of the old jail.
“We need to find a place to put them, keep them where they are safe, comfortable, and able to do their job to the best ability. Right now, in the basement of this building, that’s not it. So, moving forward we’re trying to find a place to relocate them. We have a couple of places in mind. Once we can get that accomplished then we can really get on what happens with this property,” Switzer said.
County leaders will work together on the plan. They want to remain transparent through the process and plan to host an input session to give members of the community the chance to voice their opinions on the direction they want to see the project go.
