The Reno County Jail committee heard a presentation from Universal Construction Company about the construction project delivery system that would use a construction manager who becomes a part of the team, along side county officials and the architect.

Steve Smith, the President, and John Shortfall Vice-President of the Lenexa, Kansas based company told the committee that the construction manager’s role is to coordinate and communicate the entire project process to clarify cost and time consequences of design decisions, manage bidding, and award contracts, and manage construction phases of the project.

No decision was made of course on hiring this firm for what Dennis Clennen, a member of the committee called a commercial.

The committee did however decide on an architect, that being Treanor Architects with offices across the central U-S. Clennen told the rest of the committee he thought they were the best of the three considered. County Commissioner Dan Deming said he hoped to have it on the agenda next week.

Also to be considered yet is the idea of hiring an underwriting firm to outline financial dealings on the bonding for the project should it be approved by voters. Commissioner Brad Dillon argued that should be handled by County Administrator Gary Meagher and other county officials, but later agreed that some on the committee could assist him in that study.

The committee was also told that Deming and other officials will meet with Department of Corrections officials in Topeka on Thursday over using land south of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility’s Central Unit for the proposed jail sight.

Committee members also discussed how to sell this proposal to voters by telling them in the long run, it will save them money, because of the cost of housing county jail inmates to other counties. The county has budgeted 650-thousand dollars for 2012, 418-thousand more then this year. That number could continue to rise if something isn’t done according to officials.