CLEVELAND — Plans for the construction of a new Cuyahoga County Jail in Garfield Heights are back on track after a committee made up of representatives from the Cuyahoga County Court System and the Sheriff's Department voted at a special meeting on Monday to move the nearly $900 million project forward.
The meeting comes after County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley called for work on the project to stop, citing a vote by the four-member committee needed to proceed.
"Certainly, this project is the largest construction project cost-wise in the history of Cuyahoga County, and I think it's critical that due diligence is given to every aspect of this project," O'Malley said.
While the Administration of County Executive Chris Ronayne disagreed with that assessment, they put together the meeting, allowing the members to hear the details of the project on this 72-acre site just off of 480 in Garfield Heights, the timeline and the cost, now listed at no more than $894 million. But that's a figure they argued comes with an expiration date.
"If this goes away, if we can't get this started now, we don't have this guarantee anymore; that's why this is so time sensitive," said Jeff Appelbaum of Project Management Consultants.
The committee had a few questions about the site, as well as the state auditor's concerns last week that officials could be held personally liable if the state found that money was being spent in violation of the law, a concern that prompted the sheriff to abstain.
"Approving at this stage before those issues are fully addressed could expose county officials including myself," said Sheriff Harold Pretel, "to potential legal and financial liability."
County attorneys assured the members that they had dealt with expenses in the past, not those going forward. With only a majority of the four-member committee needed, the measure passed by a 3-0 vote.
Prosecutor O'Malley labeled the meeting and vote a victory for transparency.
"This is what the law requires, it's what we saw in action today, and so I'm very happy that they got an opportunity to review the plans, the public got a good opportunity today to see what's going on and I think that's a good step forward," O'Malley said. "It's a good first step to trying to bring transparency to the largest construction project in the history of Cuyahoga County."
County Executive Chris Ronayne said he had a good conversation with O'Malley after the meeting.
"We had a nice exchange, and I think our hope is that through the county council tomorrow night this project will go forward and that contractors can get on the job and get started," Ronayne said.
When asked how much more this would have cost the county had the project been delayed, Ronayne said: "This could've been catastrophic."
The vote allows the county to sign a deal that sets a guaranteed maximum price of $894 million on the project before it goes up.
Now Ronayne says the path is clear for the county council to begin the process of issuing close to a billion dollars in bonds for the overall project, and for the first pilings at the site to go in.
"The 72-acre site in the city of Garfield Heights is ready now to receive this work and to move forward on something that has been a seven-year process," he said.
John Kosich is the Cleveland City Hall and state and federal politics reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @KosichJohn, on Facebook JohnKosichTV or email him at kosich@wews.com.
