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By Charlie Spiering
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Site selection difficulties threaten to derail a proposal for Rappahannock’s participation in a regional jail.
The plan to build a regional facility that would serve the counties of Warren , Shenandoah, Page and Rappahannock has inched forward since it was proposed about two years ago, hut area county officials have yet to settle on a viable site.
“The bus is off its wheels,” said Rappahannock County Administrator John McCarthy during Monday’s meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors
McCarthy noted that the withdrawal of Page County and recent rumblings about a proposed site in Shenandoah County have caused him to doubt the success of the project. “Page is out, Shenandoah is shaky. . .1 think that we (the counties involved) are on a slippery slope to getting out of it,” he said.
Since there is a three county minimum for a regional facility the proposal will fail if Shenandoah county opts out of the process. Rappahannock’s role
A proposal to build the regional jail was submitted to the State Corrections Board on March 1, 2007. Local jails in each of the counties involved are suffering from overcrowding, while Rappahannock County has the oldest operational jail in the state.
The state funds up to 50 percent to construct a regional facility, as opposed to 25 percent of a local facility if each county goes it alone.
“In the long run, it saves the county money” said McCarthy, who has supported the county’s role in the proposal.
McCarthy added that it would be beneficial to find a jail solution for Rappahannock County ahead of time. “We have already heard noise from the Department of Corrections about shutting us down,” said McCarthy about the current facility located in the Town of Washington.
No site solution
A site in the Warren County Industrial Park was selected in March, to meet the application deadline. That site, however, was sold to a power company that plans to use it for a power plant. Warren County administrator Doug Stanley said that at the time of the application the site was under contract and it was uncertain whether it would go through.
Earlier in the process Page County had proposed a site of their own, actively seeking to bring the regional facility to their county. That site was voted down by the Luray Town Council.
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