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Suncoast Pasco News

Sheriff Complains About Delay In Jail Addition

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: February 1, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - With nearly 280 inmates sleeping in temporary bedding at Pasco jails, Sheriff Bob White was perturbed today by the latest delay in building a permanent jail addition.

At the last meeting of the Pasco County Public Safety Coordinating Council, in September, county officials had been optimistic that early phases of construction might have started by this month at the main county jail, in the Land O' Lakes area.

County officials, however, now predict construction will start by June or July of this year, the sheriff complained at today's coordinating council meeting.

The sheriff asked why the contract with the firm that will construct the jail addition had been held up for the past few months. Records show Clearwater-based Peter R. Brown Construction had won the construction bid for the jail addition project on Aug. 2.

Delays resulted when attorneys worked on revisions in the contract language, Frank James, the county's facilities management director, explained.

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand asked county staff to hurry along the work on the construction contract if possible in time for the County Commission to review the document at its Feb. 12 meeting.

The jail addition ordinarily would take 14 months to build, James said. Pasco officials, however, asked the contractor to place the project on a "fast track" to try to finish it within 12 months, James said.

Read more on the planned Pasco jail addition in Feb. 6 print editions of The Suncoast News.

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