https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2023/06/15/17m-addition-may-aid-shawnee-county-inmates-with-mental-health-issues/70325969007/ june 15,2023 Shawnee County took a key step Thursday toward creating a new jail addition that will specifically provide living quarters for inmates with mental health issues. County commissioners authorized the county corrections department to begin final negotiations with Topeka-based KBS Constructors Inc. on a contract to design and build that addition at the Shawnee County Jail, 501 S.E. 8th. Brian Cole, director of the county corrections department, said he expects the project to cost $17 million to $18 million. Commissioners Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook voted in favor of the move. Commissioner Aaron Mays was absent. Thursday's vote will help the corrections department more effectively address inmate mental health needs, which has been a key concern, Cole said. "I would say that incarceration of those who suffer with serious and persistent mental illness has been one of the biggest challenges facing our agency," he said. The jail, which opened in 1987, offers good services but was not built to accommodate the inmates it houses today, Cole said. "We are housing inmates that have serious and persistent mental illness in about six different areas, and it is becoming a tremendous burden on our staff to get out and try to seek services," he said. Cole has been employed since 1989 by the county corrections department, where he became interim director in 2012, then was named as director soon afterward. The process of designing the addition will now begin to go into more depth after previously involving only conceptual work, The Capital-Journal was told by Tim Phelps, the correction department's deputy director. "We're going to drill down to the exact design and then from that exact design we will work out exact cost," Phelps said. Jail officials hope to be ready to start building the addition in the first quarter of next year, he said. Riphahn and Cook also voted 2-0 to acknowledge Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill's office has completed the process to apply for a 2023 COPS Technology Community Project Fund Grant in the amount of $1,664,000. The grant funding, if received, would be used to upgrade deputy body-worn and vehicle cameras throughout the agency, said the agenda packet for Thursday's meeting. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Shawnee County is soliciting sealed proposals for PHASE II and PHASE III of the Design/Build bid #013-23 for a specialized mental health living unit to be built on top of the existing medical unit and tie appropriately into the existing secure Adult Detention Center (MH Module), per the following minimum specifications. The Shortlisted firms for this Design/Build are: 1. KBS Constructors (HTK Architects; HDR/Bob D. Campbell Engineers; LS&A MEP) 2. McCownGordon (Treanor Architects; Bob D. Campbell Engineers; Smith & Boucher MEP) 3. Universal Construction (Goldberg Architects; Toth Engineers; McElroys MEP) Shawnee County is soliciting sealed proposals for PHASE II and PHASE III of the Design/Build bid #013-23 for a specialized mental health living unit to be built on top of the existing medical unit and tie appropriately into the existing secure Adult Detention Center (MH Module), per the following minimum specifications.