Photo by Joanne Beck
As one of the leads on Genesee County’s new jail on Route 5, assistant engineer Laura Wadhams is understandably happy to see the $70 million facility finally round the corner to completion with a colorful array of inmate pods ready and waiting for beds and other furnishings to be installed next week.
“Today seems kind of fitting because as of March 15, the building was finally complete and is actually ours now. So, as of today, the jail transitions team is staffing the building 24/7 for security. They’ll be there from here until they open and move the inmates,” Wadhams said Monday during the county’s Public Service Committee meeting. “We are going to be turning over the keys to the jail staff, a little quick ceremony … the furniture is actually starting to be delivered on March 25, so it will be all of the commercial furniture for the jail admin, Genesee Justice, all the training rooms, things like that. And we’re working on planning for a dedication ceremony complete for sometime in May too, and officially open the building to the public.”
Senior Project Manager Carl York, who has typically given jail updates, has already moved on to another project, she said. She showed pictures of the new jail, including “the nice clean pods,” which are inmate cells in various colors of green, yellow, and purple for the women’s block, which “got the most separations,” Wadhams said.
She said each block will be self-contained, with food brought to the inmates and each group having access to an outdoor area. Legislator John Deleo remarked how swiftly the facility has progressed to this endpoint.
“You’ve done an outstanding job,” he said.
Staff from Genesee Justice will be moved out of the current jail at 14 W. Main St. to the new jail in April, and inmates will eventually move into their new housing by summertime, Wadhams said. The Public Defender’s staff will move to the old jail during renovations of the Engine House and will then move back once those are finished.
Landscaping will be completed once the weather cooperates with warmer temperatures, she said.
“You can really see how far this building has come in the past two years. It's pretty amazing. So it's looking a little bit greener out there,” she said. "Now I’m excited to see how that comes through this spring. We’ve got some paving to do, clean up around the outside, landscaping, get rid of that big topsoil stockpile on the back, but it's looking great out there.”
The jail staff is working out a final plan to move inmates over to the new jail this summer, and there will be “quite a bit of training that our COs have to do for this style of jail compared to the jail that they have now,” Wadhams said.
“So rotating COs through to do training while they’re still operating the jail at 14 W. Main is going to take some time,” she said.
County Manager Matt Landers reviewed a related change order for $59,725 for construction costs to install the backup 911 center in the planned shell space at the new jail. This amount is to be paid out of the new jail capital project budget and not an added expense, Landers said.
The committee approved it, and a resolution will go onto the Ways & Means and then the full Legislature for a vote during the next two weeks.
Wadhams has worked as a civil, staff, and transportation engineer and transportation construction inspector for the New York State Department of Transportation. The new county jail was her largest county project since being hired as assistant engineer in September 2018, she said.
She explained it sort of as a doll’s house you could see from an aerial view.
“So when we talk about furniture, fixtures and equipment that's yet to come in, if you take the top off the building, turn it upside down, shake it, anything that would fall out would be considered furniture, fixtures and equipment. So think of desks and chairs, computers, TVs, things like that would also have to go into the building. So right now, it's a very nice, clean, empty shell for us to move into,” she said.
What will be going into the old jail and Genesee Justice building?
“It’s still all up in the air right now. I mean, it's a great central location for the county. So what ends up going in there is still to be determined. And there's gonna have to be some renovations done in order for anybody to use the space. So that's an intermediate while they work on the Engine House. So that's why Genesee Justice had to move. It's a very domino effect,” she’s said. “Right now, I'm glad we have it for the public defenders to move over. because it's still super central for what they need to do while the Engine House is being renovated, hopefully this summer.”
What’s your favorite part of such a project? Is it the beginning, ribbon-cutting, or some point in between?
“That’s a good question; I've never been asked that question before. I mean, for me, it's the end user, it's kind of certainly the ribbon cutting, that's great. You know, it's great for everybody to see it, step back and really look at it, take it all in,” she said. “But for me, it's seeing the end user, seeing Genesee Justice in their new space and jail admin in the new space, seeing, you know, our corrections staff is excited about working in a safe and bright and open space that they're going to be in, all the new technology that's going to be in this building that'll make that a lot safer for our corrections staff, plus the incarcerated individuals, it's going to be huge. So really excited to see that all come to happen.”
