The construction of a new Mower County Jail and Justice Center will begin in downtown Austin April 6.

Construction of the new two-story, 124-bed jail and justice center should be completed and the facilities ready for occupancy Aug. 1, 2010.

That’s what the Mower County Board of Commissioners heard Wednesday morning at a project management update meeting in the commissioners’ board room at the government center.

Mike Clark, lead architect for KKE Architects Inc., and John Pristash, project manager for Knutson Construction Services, joined city planning director Craig Hoium and county engineer Mike Hanson in making the presentation. Randy Lindemann, another KKE representative, also contributed to the discussion.

Listening to the update were Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi, Mower County Attorney Kristen Nelsen and Mower County Correctional Services director Steve King, who is also an Austin 2nd Ward City Council Member.

The only private citizen there was Richard Epley, rural Austin farmer and chairman of the Austin Township Board. He did not address the officials or staff.

Eight years ago, then-Mower County Sheriff Barry J. Simonson appeared before the county board to first discuss jail over-crowding issues.

That set in motion a study followed by other studies, the appointment of a committee to make a recommendation to the county board, at least six years of meetings and finally a decision to build the new facilities in downtown Austin.

Now a timetable puts Mower County, the city and citizens closer to seeing the project reach conclusion.

The Wednesday meeting will go down in jail/justice center project history as a milestone: Dates and deadlines set.

The four county commissioners present for the meeting expressed pleasure at what they heard (Dave Tollefson, 5th District), was absent.

Ray Tucker, 2nd District and vice chairman of the county board, said it was “good news” to hear of the early interest from contractors in biding the project.

Dick Lang, 4th District, Dave Hillier, 5th District, and Tim Garbrielson, 1st District, all concurred about hearing good news about contractors’ interest.

Another spectator at the meeting, Richard P. Cummings, former 1st District county commissioner, also agreed.

County coordinator Craig Oscarson, too.

And what did they hear that made them all so pleased?

John Pristash, project manager for Knutson Construction Services, Inc., Rochester, said, “As of today (Feb. 3), 30 sets of bid specs have been distributed.”

The specifications were placed on-line only last Friday (Jan. 30).

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest out there in this project,” he said. “The actual bid openings could take hours.”

KKE’s Clark said, “We’re expecting a lot of local interest in this project, too.”

Presently, Mower County plans to build its new jail/justice center project between Second and Fourth Avenues Northeast and First and Second Streets Northeast in downtown Austin.

The city of Austin is acquiring the two blocks of privately owned land for the project.

Already, the county is selling $10-million of lease-revenue bonds courtesy of the Mower County Housing and Redevelopment Authority to fund only the justice center portion of the project.

The county will sell more bonds after bids are opened and the actual costs of the jail are known this spring.

Present price-tag for the jail/justice center project: $36-million.

After the original jail study committee met for most of a year, it recommended court security measures be taken in addition to a new jail constructed. The result: Not only a jail, but also a justice center housing district court, court administration and services, correctional services, county attorney and other related court offices.

City planning director Hoium began the update Wednesday morning.

Steve’s Pizza restaurant has until March 1 to vacate its present Second Avenue Northeast site for a new location on North Main Street. The city has closed on the TPS Apartments/old Colonial Bar property and will close Friday on the Anytime Fitness Center property.

Demolition of the properties will begin March 9.

The process for the vacation of a one-block stretch of Third Avenue Northeast has begun and a similar process for the vacation of a two-block portion of First Street Northeast will begin later.

County engineer Hanson’s update included his observation 40 percent of the building pad’s soil corrections work in the south block (Steve’s Pizza block) has been completed until being halted by the weather and frozen ground.

County coordinator Oscarson joined by updating all on the asbestos abatement work in the Robbins block buildings and the March 9 due date for demolition bids.

The county plans to clear the third block of city land and turn it into a geothermal well field with 96 80-100 foot wells supplying heat to the new jail/justice center. Also, the block will add to the county’s off-street parking opportunities and possibly a new Health and Human Services building in the future.

“We plan to take all the buildings down, and I can tell you there is some interest in the demolition contract already,” Hanson said.

KKE’s Clark said the architects were “on track” with their timetable of events made last December.

Instead of an 18-month construction scheduled, Clark said it should take — weather- and other unforeseen events permitting — in 15 months.

A final review of the design of the facilities revealed no requests for changes from county department heads involved in the project.

That prompted Oscarson to observe, “Everyone should know what they’re getting.”

According to Clark, there are two unresolved issues.

One is a new radio system to allow jailers to communicate with each other while performing their in-house jail duties.

The other is dewatering of the geothermal well field and construction site and satisfying Minnesota Pollution Control Agency guidelines.

“Otherwise, it looks like a very good, clean project,” Clark said.

Knutson Construction Service’s Pristash said a pre-bid conference is scheduled 10 a.m. Feb. 12 with the highly-anticipated bids due 2 p.m. March 4 with the opening beginning later that same afternoon in the county commissioners’ meeting room.

That meeting, as well as the others, will be open to the public.

“The board will hear actual costs of the projects after the bids are reviewed and at a presentation scheduled March 10,” Pristash said.

If the bids are acceptable — and the commissioners, construction manager and architects all believe they will be due to the stagnant economy and contractors’ interest in work this year — a contract for the largest single capital improvement project in Mower County history could be awarded March 17 and ground-breaking when construction begins April 6.

After years of waiting, a sour economy and the appetite for work has everyone expecting the $36-million price-tag can be reduced, officials said.

“We should have a lot of interest in this project due to the economy,” said county commissioner Tucker.