OREGON – At its meeting on May 23, the Oregon City Council approved a request from Ogle County to rezone land for a proposed new jail.

The 3-2 vote means the county-owned land will now be commercial property, which is necessary for the county’s proposed 180-bed jail that would be built near the Judicial Center, and close to the current jail in downtown.
The next step will be for the city to consider a plan to close part of Sixth Street to accommodate the new jail. That vote should come at the June 27 meeting, but requires four votes to pass.
Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker, who spoke at the council meeting, said he is hopeful the board will approve the street closure.
“We’re going to appeal to them to look at the merits of this thing,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll see that by then.”

The two votes against the rezoning came from City Commissioners Jim Barnes and Tom Izer. Mayor Ken Williams, along with commissioners Kurt Wilson and Terry Schuster voted for it.

The proposal has a new jail being built just west of the Ogle County Judicial Center on 5th Street. The jail would house between 180 to 200 prisoners and would cost a total of about $25 million. The proposed jail would be connected to the Judicial Center by a sallyport which could hold six vehicles. That would be a secure way to transport prisoners to the Judicial Center.
In order to build the jail, the county is banking on closing part of Sixth Street. Gouker said if the city does not approve the closure, the county will have to look at other options.
“Not at this point,” he said when asked if the county has a Plan B. “Simply because this is the best plan.”
He said he hopes the other commissioners will listen to the majority of their constituents and not a vocal minority that oppose the proposed jail.

“We’ll just wait and see what happens at the end of June and we’ll deal with whatever situation comes,” Gouker said.
The current jail was built in 1969 and has on-going maintenance issues. Sheriff Brian VanVickle said there are continuing problems with the sewer, sinks, gates and other issues. He has said he is concerned that because of that and the general state of the facility, a judge might eventually order the county to find better housing for the prisoners.
The current jail has space for about 100 prisoners.