Speer: Jail issue not going away any time soon

Mention the word "millage" these days and elected officials will either duck for cover or run the other way.

With gas prices in excess of $4 a gallon and groceries costing an arm and a leg, there isn't much left in any of our wallets anymore at the end of the week. That being reality, government officials understand that the chance of getting millage approved these days is somewhere in the neighborhood between "slim" and "none."

Thus, don't look for Alpena County commissioners anytime soon to embrace any serious thoughts of a millage related to the sheriff's department and the desperate need for a new county jail.

Yet if ever there was a compelling story to be made, the county jail would probably be it. Two week ago Sheriff Steven Kieliszewski updated commissioners about an unusually high number of "high risk" and potentially violent inmates being housed at the facility. When the prison population is high, this creates potentially dangerous situations in a facility that while safe, is woefully tired and is no longer aging gracefully.

"At some point in time we're going to have to decide what to do with this current facility," Kieliszewski told commissioners.

Several years ago when the issue was being considered, the price tag for a new jail was around $7 million. While it is hard to estimate without solid bids what that price would be today, commissioners said they would not be surprised if the number had tripled by now.

All one has to do is read the newspaper every day and it quickly becomes apparent crime is a problem across the region and unfortunately, incidents of more serious crimes appear to be more prevalent.

And, Alpena County is really no different with its jail concerns than many other counties in the region.

Alpena County commissioners instructed the sheriff to begin forming a committee to examine the jail issue.

In these economic times, I would probably go one step further and urge Kieliszewski to have that committee not just examine options for just a county jail, but I would also empower them to investigate the possibility of joining in a regional jail concept.

I think it safe to say neither state nor federal dollars are going to be free flowing in the decade ahead, thus it's time for creative approaches to deal with tough problems. By pooling together resources, sharing manpower duties and expenses and installing technology that would reduce transportation concerns, a regional jail might be a solution that would be perceived favorably by voters.

Let's face it, a jail never is going to be one of those items voters ever will embrace with enthusiasm. Hopefully it is a place few of us ever will see the inside of, and thus the return on our investment is something we'll read about, but never experience.

Even in the best of times it would be a tough sell.

And, we all know these are anything but the best of times. Thus, any talk of a new jail is going to require both accountability and creativity, justification as well as vision.

If there is anything less then we all can stand back and watch the elected officials scurry away from the problem as fast as they can.