Staff photo - LeAnne Akin The new county courthouse is going up Staff photo - LeAnne Akin One of the detention center's inmate pods Staff photo - LeAnne Akin The visitor entrance to the detention center

A video update of the construction activities at the new Barrow County criminal justice facility will be provided at Tuesday's meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on the upper level of the Administrative Annex at 233 E. Broad St., in Winder.

Also at the commission meeting, the board will be asked to consider a joint resolution with the City of Winder to participate in an Employment Incentive Program (EIP) effort to improve the sewer infrastructure to address Olympic Steel's wastewater needs.

Olympic Steel is located on Bankhead Highway.

The resolution to be considered indicates the sewer improvements are vital "to facilitate and enhance job creation and/or job retention principally for low to moderate income persons and to encourage a strong diversified local tax base."

The City of Winder, which provides sewer for that area, would be the lead applicant for the EIP funds. The county is being asked to commit $36,650 in cash for the payment of engineering and grant administration fees for the Olympic Steel project.

Other Barrow EIP efforts have supported infrastructure enhancements to keep Anderson Merchandisers and to attract Home Depot.

The board will also receive recommendations from Public Works Director Terry Darragh for award of bids on water repair projects for the Barrow County Water & Sewerage Authority and for road patching work in advance of the Local Road Assistance Program (LARP) resurfacing to be done on Jones Road, Hammond Road and Wall Road in unincorporated Barrow, a portion of David Avenue in Bethlehem and Scenic Lane in Auburn.

Pittman Construction, which has already been awarded the LARP resurfacing by the Georgia Department of Transportation, was the low bid at $308,914.45.

The county's cost estimate for the LARP patching was $340,000, according to Darragh, who said the City of Auburn and Town of Bethlehem will reimburse their portion to the county.

Mobile Communications of Gwinnett is recommended to supply the Motorola radios and batteries for the Fire Department. A grant received from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) will provide 100 percent reimbursement for the purchase.

The video, produced in cooperation with the City of Winder's WCTV24 staff of Marty Spears and Lauren Blais and summer intern Cameron Chudd, will give a brief walking tour-style update of the 200,000-square-foot buildings' progress.

The project - a new county courthouse and detention center -İis slated for completion in April 2009. Barrow County Deputy Administrator Michael Fischer has oversight coordination of the county's largest construction undertaking which will cost $47.4 million.

The new governmental facilities are being built on county-owned acreage between Highway 211 and Pearl Pentecost Road which was purchased during the Elder Administration for future county facilities.

Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) proceeds and a 20-year general obligation bond issue will finance the project. An estimated $6 million in interest earned is also available for the project. Already approved SPLOST proceeds will pay the bond note for the first six-year period, notes Chief Administrator Keith Lee, who provides financial commentary, including estimates of maintenance and operation for the energy- and manpower-efficient design, for the video.

The prefabricated jail cells are already in place in the detention center which will house 392 inmates. Plans also call for relocation of the work release program detail to the new detention center.

Originally published Sunday, June 22, 2008