By Francis Scarcella
The Daily Item
SUNBURY — Plans to rebuild Northumberland County’s prison and add a courthouse at the former Knight-Celotex site may be on hold as an insurance payout of $2.5 million falls far below the $30 million officials hoped to receive for the former jail, which was ravaged by fire.
A new prison could cost anywhere from $15 million to $36 million, Northumberland County Commissioner Steve Bridy said.
Relocation of the county jail and courthouse to the 22-acre site owned by Moran Industries, Watsontown, isn’t a “done deal,” Bridy said, because the county received only $2.5 million in insurance after a Jan. 14 fire destroyed the Northumberland County Prison.
The county is insured for $30 million for several properties, but Travelers Insurance paid what it thought covered the damage to the jail, Bridy said. Other upgrades and repairs needed to bring the building to code make the former jailhouse unusable, he said.
While private adjusters are working with Travelers to negotiate a larger payout from the fire, Bridy said the 139-year-old structure on North Second Street is falling apart.
“It keeps getting worse,” he said. “It can’t be used anymore. Every bit of work that was being done inside since the fire was paid for by the insurance company. We used our own employees for a lot of the work.”
Commissioner Vinny Clausi formally made a recommendation to purchase the Moran site for $2 million for the development of a county prison, pre-release center and courthouse.
The site is the perfect location for all three facilities, Clausi said.
Bridy agreed.
“If this all goes through, we would need to seriously discuss moving the courthouse there,” Bridy said. “When we have a project of this magnitude going on, it would only make sense to piggyback and get everything we need done at once. It would save money in the long run.”
Bridy believes the 150-year-old county courthouse is a fire hazard and the cost of maintaining the building is too expensive for taxpayers. Estimates to repair the courthouse’s first-floor lobby, second-floor stairway and second-floor landing could cost $250,000.
Northumberland County can borrow to build, Bridy said, adding that a new courthouse could be efficient enough to pay for itself in 20 years.
“We are looking at all options,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have many inmates and we seem to be staying at around an average so I don’t think it would make sense to build something that we will never use.”
About 125 male inmates are being housed at the State Correctional Institution at Coal Township and 15 females at SCI-Muncy, Bridy said.
A one-story prison would be sufficient, modeled after a college dormitory, he said.
Cells should be included, Bridy said, but added most of the inmates housed in the county are nonviolent offenders.
“We should have a few cells, but we can look at this and see what the cheapest and best way is to build,” he said.
Some builders spoke to county leaders about a 168-cell jail, but Bridy said that number is too large.
The courthouse, however, would be an additional expense and Bridy was unsure of any design plans, he said.
If the courthouse does move to the Moran site, Bridy said the county would most likely donate the existing building, along with the prison, to the Northumberland County Historical Society, but he fears funds to repurpose the site would not be there to support it.
“I agree the building is a part of history, and I hate to see it go, but I was told giving it to the public would put the building in jeopardy because of funding,” he said. “We are using taxpayers’ dollars now to support it, and it is costing us too much money. If we didn’t look at the options of moving this, we would not be doing our jobs for the taxpayers.”
In order to move forward, Northumberland County is relying on Sunbury to access funds in the state budget for development inside city limits.
That amounts to roughly $4 million.
“We have had great talks with city officials,” Bridy said. “I think we are in agreement on things, but again, we have to make sure it is in the best interest of the taxpayers of the whole county.”
City officials would be thrilled if the prison remained in Sunbury, especially with the opportunity to build a new police station attached to the jail.
The new location would then house the prison, courthouse, city police station and a place for central booking for the county.
“The whole thing makes sense,” Bridy said. “We are expecting to move forward, but we want to make sure everything is out front and honest.”
The county commissioners meet Tuesday.