MOUNT VERNON — Knox County commissioners have awarded a $267,880 contract to Modern Builders to turn a maintenance shed into a secure evidence storage facility.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office will use approximately two-thirds of the building for evidence storage. The remainder will be general storage.
The project also includes adding electricity to the building, located behind the sheriff’s office at 11540 Upper Gilchrist Road.
Four other contractors submitted bids:
•Chamberlin Group Inc, $399,516
•Knox Concrete Construction, $408,875
•Setterlin Building Company, $474,079
•Adena Corporation, $400,225
The architect’s estimate was $425,000.
“We’re looking forward to the upgrade of that building so we can clear out a couple of rooms that have turned into evidence rooms,” Sheriff Daniel Weckesser told commissioners in July.
“Once that building’s done, then we’ll have a couple more rooms in the office. … It would be good to have at least one of those rooms operational for our crime lab,” the sheriff said.
County administrator Jason Booth said he expects Modern Builders, a Mount Vernon company, to complete the maintenance shed work in a couple of months.
The commissioners also accepted a $156,000 bid from Security Automated Systems to upgrade jail security. The bid was over the estimated price of $150,000, but within the bid parameters.
AE Security Group submitted a bid of $347,445.
KCSO nears full staffing
Weckesser said discussions are off and on regarding the sheriff’s office providing coverage for Apple Valley.
“We’ll probably start trying to talk to him some more about that in the near future. Our main concern this summer was to try to get boat patrol, especially during the holidays. We have struggled with that, but we have a few people that have stepped up with doing the patrols,” Weckesser said.
Weckesser said the jail population has ranged between 95 and 105 for the past couple of weeks. Capacity is 100.
The KCSO kitchen received new appliances, the parking lot was resurfaced and restriped, and four cruisers, including one K-9, were outfitted.
Weckesser said the new jail administrator, James Crawford, will start by the end of August.
Crawford replaces Will Shaffer, who left the department July 1.
Weckesser said he does not plan to fill the position of Capt. Scott McKnight, who left the KCSO on July 1. The KCSO hired two deputies this month.
“By the end of August, I think we will be fully staffed,” Weckesser said.
