By Robert Creenan
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
LOCKPORT, N.Y. —The Niagara County Legislature has authorized the issue of $6.46 million in 25-year serial bonds to pay for capital improvements at the county jail and the sheriff’s department.
Sheriff Michael Filicetti said existing facilities, some raised more than 50 years ago, are showing their age.
“When you look at the building built in 1959, it needs some updates,” Filicetti said. “What we’re trying to do is bring it up to the 2023 era.”
Both buildings are at 5526 Niagara Street Ext., Lockport. Improvements at the correctional facility include news coolers and freezers for the kitchen, level recreational yard floors, mezzanine level fencing, and new security card readers.
At the sheriff’s department, windows, doors and flooring would be updated, and the county forensic laboratory would be expanded to accommodate new DNA testing equipment. Currently the forensic lab does DNA evidence processing but other work with DNA is done in Erie County. The sheriff’s department wants to bring that other work home.
According to Filicetti, previously the county explored building a new sheriff’s department and ruled that out as cost prohibitive.
While authorizing the bond issue, the legislature also allocated $3 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to explore building a new jail. The original was constructed in 1959.
No timeline for completing upgrades has been announced yet, because funding through the bonds will not be in place until August. Filicetti anticipates the design and bidding of the projects will take more than a year.
___
(c)2023 the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.)
Visit the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.) at lockportjournal.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.