Expansion on the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny is 14 months behind schedule and will cost as much as $10 million more than originally anticipated.
The Hudson County Freeholder Board held up seven of eight contracts for the construction, seeking information as to the details.
“We have about $100,000 left from our original ordinance, and that won’t cover any change orders,” said Freeholder Bill O’Dea. “I’m predicting that before this is done, we’re going to need two to three million more, and that might be a conservative estimate.”
Freeholders approved the addition to the jail nearly three years ago, but learned the specifics about delays at the June 24 meeting, when seven of the eight purchasing contracts came up for approval. Construction was started and then delayed by a lawsuit last year questioning the bidding process.
The six-floor addition to the jail would be constructed along the western side of the existing facility and would require the purchase of a small amount of neighboring land in order to provide for additional security around the boundary.
This facility would hold 512 low-risk inmates and construction – if the project is approved – would begin in March 2001, and would take about a year and a half to complete. Work in a way that would avoid interfering with current operations.
The jail, constructed in 1987 to house about 1,400 inmates at times, has reached 2,500 inmates. The new construction was supposed to provide new kitchen facilities on the lowest floor, a mezzanine on the second floor, and four floors of dormitory-style housing, complete with showers, toilets, a classroom, tables, and an outside exercise area for each unit. These dormitories house prisoners who needed less security and leave the traditional cell structure in the current building for the more at risk population.
The county, according to County Engineer Bob Jasek, broke the work down into eight different contracts to allow smaller local companies to bid on the project.
Funding was done through a leased purchase agreement, said County Administrator Abe Antun, along with $8 million of funds set aside over the years for the upgrade and $7 million in federal money.
The project was proposed under former County Executive Robert Janiszewski, who was also responsible for completing the original construction in the late 1980s.
Original $30 million estimate
The original $30 million estimate for the expansion was made in early 2001, Jasek said, noting that the actual bid price when totaled came to nearly $36 million. This price, however, did not include the $2.5 million for video arraignment unit, $1.5 million for a variety of furniture and $5 million for architectural services for Kaplan, McLaughlin, Diaz, a New York City-based architectural firm.
O’Dea, however, said increases in costs exceeded 55 percent in one contract and 140 percent in another. This is not to mention the costs associated with the delay. The county has been paying a project manager despite the fact that work has not been going on for months at a time.
Jasek said delays were caused mostly by litigation, and admitted that the project was 18 to 24 months behind.
Journal Square should be studied
In another matter, O’Dea and Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons raised some concerns about the piecemeal reconstruction of Journal Square.
In commenting on the proposed expansion plans for the Hudson County Community College, O’Dea said he would like a schedule of proposed changes and a plan that took the whole Journal Square into account.
O’Dea noted that several county departments are renting buildings that are in deplorable condition, and that rather than sign new leases in the future, the county should be planning reconstruction of some these facilities along with the college’s changes.
Fitzgibbons said he would like to see map with the lay out of buildings, and how the Loews and Stanley theaters might be integrated into the college’s plans.
“How does it all work together?” he asked. “And it is possible to convert the [historic] Apple Treehouse to use by the college? If we’re designing Journal Square for the next hundred years, I would like it to be more attractive.”
O’Dea said New Jersey City University recently got all the interested community leaders together when designing changes around that college in order to get a complete idea as to how to revitalize the area.
“I think the community college should do the same thing,” O’Dea said. “We need an overall plan for the Journal Square area. College improvements should not be done in a vacuum.”