After Dan Rowe with Treanor Architects went over the schematic design for the new county jail, the County Commission approved that design. Rowe told the commission that the next phase will be the design development with the various engineers who would be involved, such as electrical, plumbing and so on.

Rowe says they look to start taking bids on work for the project along with J.E. Dunn in December and January. It’s estimated that construction would take about 18-months or so. The jail will be built at the corner of Blanchard and Severance on land being purchased from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Already local contractors are showing interest in being involved according to officials with J.E. Dunn. They look to get those contractors involved sometime next fall, possibly in October.

The commission also approved issuance of general obligation bonds at just over 1.6 million dollars for the purpose of constructing the methane collection system at the Reno County Landfill.

County Administrator Gary Meagher told the commission that there is an interest from a company in Rice County in using the gas collected. Kansas Ethanol has entered into a memo of understanding for 120-days. That means the county would not negotiate with any other company or entity over the purchase of the gas. No action was taken and Commissioner Brad Dillon told his colleagues he would need to abstain because of family having an interest in the Rice County company.

The catch is the Rice County facility is 30-miles from the landfill meaning that a pipeline would have to be built to get the gas from the landfill to the ethanol facility.

The commission also discussed this item during an executive session Tuesday, however no action was expected to be taken until next week.