JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A push to move the Duval County jail is gaining steam and now there is a conversation brewing about also moving the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office administrative headquarters.
RELATED: City Council committee discusses relocation of Duval County jail
At a meeting Thursday morning at City Hall, city leaders started to figure out if it’s practical and makes sense financially to move the headquarters elsewhere, perhaps to the Florida Blue building along Riverside Avenue near downtown. There are already some JSO detectives working out of leased space in that building.
Nothing has been set in stone yet, but a lease agreement could reached within several months. It could cost the city over $6 million per year to lease the space, but that would be significantly less than constructing a new headquarters, which could cost over $177 million, not including land and design costs, officials said.
JSO has concerns over the current building.
“the age of the building itself, and the cost of maintenance, maintain the building and current costs that we need to invest in to fix those problems that are there right now,” said JSO Director of Police Services Larry Schmitt. “Historically, for the city the plan has been to build from scratch, that’s also the most expensive, so we looked at other options. And this leasing option came up with moving one of our divisions, and it seems to work very, very well in favor of the employees, but more importantly, in favor of the tax papers.”
If that’s approved by the mayor’s office and city council, the actual move could come as soon as a year from now.
That could open more space at the current building on Bay Street for jail staff until a new jail facility is built in another part of town.
The current building would then be used for jail staff and a possible expansion of a jail medical clinic that could be used until a new jail is built.
City Councilman Mike Boylan discussed the possibility with News4JAX reporter Jim Piggott.
“I think there’s a good chance that might happen. I don’t know if there’s any interest on the part of the sheriff, but there’s a process it has to go through. We want to make sure that we live up to that process,” Boylan told Piggott.
The decision would require buy-in from the sheriff’s office and discussion about the budget before the City Council could move forward, Boylan said.
Right now, the ballpark price to build a new jail is around $380 million.
The current jail was a matter of discussion for city council members Wednesday after concerns were raised about the funding for UF Health, where inmates inside the Duval County jail go for medical help.
UF Health’s CEO said roughly 5% of the hospital’s ER visits come from inmates.
If the jail moves, inmate health care will need to be part of the conversation.
