LOL -- It Never Quits -- Why I Love Blogging -- March 19, 2016, And III

The other day I blogged about Williston getting a special ops team. Today The Dickinson Press follows up with a story where all the "outlaws" will be housed once rounded up by the special ops team: in a $20 million expansion project for the current "jail." The lede:

Williams County commissioners and department heads decided to go ahead with a jail expansion after sorting out numbers and weighing needs against costs during a special meeting on Friday morning.

The project would expand the jail from 132 beds to 240 beds, and likely stop the need to transfer inmates to a facility in Hardin, MT.

Some data points (some numbers rounded, and thus differ slightly from the linked story):

• the complex has already been approved for renovation, with a cost of $40 million
• the $20 million jail and law enforcement center expansion would become part of the overall plan
• for the renovation (already approved) and the expansion (being considered) the funds will come from --
• $25 million that was committed to the project from several reserve and permit funds last April (2015)
• $13 million from a now-defunct one-half percent sales tax that was transferred to the building fund earlier this month (March, 2016)
• $1 million generated from a property transfer with the city of Williston
• the remaining $15.5 million will likely be covered by a loan from the Bank of North Dakota

That adds up to $54.5 million.

The combined price tag is $54.9 million, an amount that could increase if the two expansions were done separately, said Jim Steinmann, a project manager for Williams County. 

Williston may need a special ops team just to respond to any jailhouse breakout.

You know, this is pretty cool. If the jail, at some point, has excess capacity, it could be a revenue-generator, perhaps taking Gitmo prisoners if that facility is shut down.