Daniel Prince
Committee to discuss grants, detention center funding
The Union County Council Committee on Administration and Finance will hold a meeting this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in the Law Library on the third floor at the Union County Courthouse. They will receive information from Union County Development Board Director Dolton Williams on possible grant funding for a proposed industrial facility, and they will discuss funding possibilities for the detention center expansion project. At last month’s Union County Council meeting, Supervisor Phillip Russell said that the lowest bid on the jail expansion came back at $8.6 million. They had planned on $7.1 million, leaving the county $1.5 million short. Russell said he would be meeting with the architect and the low bidder to see what the county could do to negotiate that cost, as the county can’t absorb that $1.5 million. He said he didn’t want to take it out of the fund balance or ask for more tax dollars. At today’s meeting, we will receive an update and hear about any more funding options the county may have. The meeting is open to the public. The committee is chaired by Dr. John Flood, and all council members are part of that committee. However, since it is a committee meeting, any recommendations will be brought to next week’s Union County Council meeting for a possible vote.