MADISON, Wis. — The Dane County Jail Consolidation Project took another step forward on Thursday when the Board of Supervisors awarded a contract for the work to Miron Construction.
The contract, worth over $161.6 million, passed with just one amendment stipulating that the board encourage Miron to work with local and union subcontractors to complete the work.
Speaking to News 3 Now on Friday, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said he was excited to get to this stage, but said there’s still lots of work to be done.
“There’s a lot of hard work, dedication of blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into getting to where we were after last night,” Barrett said. “And there’s a lot of things we have to continue to do in our criminal justice system to ensure that we do not build a new building and be 100% at capacity the day it opens.”
Jail consolidation has been the subject of years-long debate, with multiple hurdles along the way. A plan to add more stories to the existing jail was squashed in 2018 due to architectural concerns, while four plans put forward in 2019 had costs ranging from $148 million to $220 million.