And according to County Judge Mark Barr, routine will be just fine with him and the rest of the commissioners.

“Everything has been so fast and furious with the budget and the construction of the new jail, a routine agenda sounds like a nice change of pace right now,” said Barr with a laugh. “It really does.”

While the work in the commissioners courtroom may slow down slightly Monday morning, Barr said work on the new $11.57 million county jail is on pace to be completed sometime in March 2009.

“I'd say the jail is about 30 percent complete at this point,” said Barr. “They're doing the masonry block work right now, and they are working on some of the doors and steel ceilings for the jail cell area. According to the architect, once the masonry work is finished — which should take about two months, with four or five weeks already completed — the rest of the construction should go very quickly.”

Barr said the March completion date for the facility, which was approved by voters in November 2007, should allow county officials to have the facility up and running sometime in April.

“The construction manager is telling us we're on pace to have construction completed in March 2009,” said Barr. “That's about nine months from the start date, so we're very pleased with it so far. Once the facility is finished, we should be able to be moved in by April. It takes a lot to get moved in, and clean up is a major concern.

“We're very pleased with how the project has gone so far. Honestly, it's gone better than I had expected it to go. There have been very few change orders and most of them have been small and minor.”

Barr said one of the items on Monday's agenda will be a change order to correct an oversight in the jail's visitation facilities.

“When we approved everything, we approved a video visitation system, which will allow visitation to happen without bringing the inmate out of the jail,” said Barr. “However, no one thought to ask the question, 'What happens if that system goes down?' So we're adding a glass wall with telephones to cover that possible situation. The change will cost about $15,000.”

Commissioners are expected to consider some minor budget amendments during the meeting, according to Barr.

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. in the commissioners courtroom, located on the second floor of the Howard County Courthouse.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it