Lucas County makes moves to prepare for possible new jail location

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Lucas County officials take steps towards finalizing a site for the new county jail.

County officials on Tuesday made plans to relocate its Facilities Department, making the location a possibility for a new jail.

County leaders said they have narrowed their options to two sites which are the Facilities Department and the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

With each delay in plans, the county is losing money.

“We know that there’s at least, a minimum $100,000 a month we’re losing in cost and time and materials every time we don’t move forward,” said Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken.

Over the last half-decade, county leaders have considered several locations, with the most recent and favored being the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department on North Erie Street.

“We worked for a very long time on the Health Department site. It hasn’t moved as quickly as we needed it to move. There are lots of parties involved,” said Gerken.

The second option is the Facilities Department which is on Canton Street and located behind the Juvenile Court ─ directly Canton Street.

Earlier on Tuesday, county leaders finalized a deal to purchase warehouse space on Washington Street near Indiana Avenue. This will be the new location for the Facilities Department.

Commissioner Gerken said due to the county owning most of the parcels, the site control will be easier.

“We’ve been through jail sites so many times that I’m not making any predictions until we start in the ground,” said Gerken.

Should county leaders select the health department, they’ll have to coordinate with Toledo’s mayor and city council as well as the health department’s board.

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