Is This Really the Best Jail Site?

Below is a letter submitted by Luwana Brewster and published in the Examiner Enterprise.

Dear Editor,

After attending the county commissioner’s meeting on Monday (November 10th), I became overwhelmingly aware of some things that I would like to bring to the attention of the voters.

Neighbors for Justice have been trying for months to get copies of the individual scoring sheets from the site selection committee with no luck. The only thing the county would provide was a single sheet with the final scores. We have come to realize that they have no documentation as to how they came up with their final scores. All we currently have is the county's word because they have either lost, discarded or destroyed the original documents. Those documents are public record. I believe the county should be forced to provide the documentation proving that this site scored the highest.

However, even if the commissioners could show documentation that this site scored the highest of the six, I would argue that the process they used for choosing the six was not a fair process to begin with. There were only six sites chosen based on recommendations by the committee to be scored. Five of the six sites chosen were on the WEST side of Bartlesville and the sixth was in a flood plain. There was not one individual on the selection committee representing the West side of Bartlesville. Does this not seem arbitrarily stacked against the West side of Bartlesville?

Why were no other viable locations scored, like for instance, the Industrial Park? Well, sources from the site selection committee were quite open about the fact that there was one particular individual who would not allow the Industrial Park to be on that list, even though some members of this committee believe that it is the best place to build the jail.

We know that the Industrial Park has up to 8 available acres for sale- - -it is listed on the city’s website. It is on a major highway with utilities already available, it is away from all residential areas and the city already owns it. A city official said they and the county are “dipping into the same pocket” to fund this new jail, then, I believe that the city and the county need to come together and work out a deal to get this jail built at the Industrial Park and keep the cost of this proposal to a minimum.

It is obvious to county voters that the processes used thus far have FAILED! Thus it is time for NEW processes. It is time for a new site selection committee that is not biased, it is time for a new architect and new consulting. It is time to research surrounding counties to see what has worked or not worked for them. It is time for us to research more cost effective ways of building this jail.

Luwana Brewster
Bartlesville, OK