The resolution to double the price of the $76M jail to $150M will be introduced tonight and voted on in three weeks – while 37,200 – 45,000 Dane County residents have no representation on the County Board.
Past Timeline
Check this out, before the report is publicly available or the county board gets a briefing on their options, the Sheriff has indicated that only 2 of the 4 options work for him, the County Executive states his preference for the “South Tower” and Cap Times has an editorial supporting the “South Tower”. Then, the county board gets their briefing, and before the committees even meet, the State Journal has also expressed their support for the “South Tower” option. It’s like the county board supervisors
April 22nd – News of the New Jail options – Sheriff indicates his preferences for greenfield of South Tower Option.
April 23rd – Public realizing that the largest capital spending project in Dane County history, the $76M jail, has now doubled in price! and County Exeutive Parisi supports the “south tower” option. “The south tower seems to make the most sense when we look at all of our priorities, in terms of having one centralized location, to have a safe facility that allows us to provide the services we want — and need — to be able to provide to people in the most cost-effective manner,” Parisi said.
April 29th – Report on the jail options publicly available.
May 1 – Sharon Corrigan expresses her preference for the South Tower prior to the county board briefing On Thursday the Dane County Board of Supervisors will look at four options for new facilities. Sharon Corrigan is the chair of the board, and she’s studied these options ahead of Thursday’s presentation. “When you looked at the actual project costs, the South Tower is the least expensive,” Corrigan said.
May 1 – Community Meeting on the jail – Sheriff attends to prevent any organizing against the jail.
May 2 (The morning of the County Board briefing) – Channel3000.com has an editorial telling us to “swallow hard” and accept the jail.
May 2 – County Board gets briefing on the 4 jail “options” (No public input)
May 5 – Editorial by the State Journal supporting the South Tower
May 7 – Dane County Committees favor building $148 million jail tower on downtown Madison site Public Protection and Judiciary and Public Works and Transportation Committees vote for the “South Tower option” $150,000,000 version of the jail. (Only chance for public input)
May 15th – Second community organizing meeting. Sheriff attends, refuses to leave when asked by several members of the community. Meeting essentially ends when people all walk out because the sheriff won’t let us meet without him. (Note: No media coverage here)
Upcoming Timeline
May 16 (Tonight) – Jail budget resolution introduced
May 21 (Next Week Tuesday) – Joint Meeting of the Personnel & Finance and Public Works and Transportation Meeting – this is the group that already voted for the “South Tower option” last week. So, it should sail through.
May 28 (The day after Memorial Day) – Personnel and Finance Committee meets
June 4th – Elections for the 3 vacant seats on the county board, including the Supervisor who represents the area where the jail is.
June 6th – The full county board will vote to double the price of the jail from $76M to $150M. M = million!
June 20th – 3 new Supervisors will be sworn in.
Racial Equity Questions
At the top of every county board and county committee agenda there are the following questions that say “Consider”:
Who benefits?
Who is burdened?
Who does not have a voice at the table?
How can policymakers mitigate unintended consequences?
So, there was no equity analysis done on the 4 jail options – and I don’t think it would matter anyways because they would just make it say what they want. So, I’m not saying an equity analysis should be done, because they are just window dressing.
I think the question that is bothering me here most is “Who does not have a voice at the table?”
For starters, the 750-1,000 inmates in the Dane County Jail. And I don’t think there were ever any efforts to get their input. And as we know, there are huge racial disparities in our jail population – which an equity analysis would show, but we already know.
And second, the people who live in county board supervisor districts 1 (where the jail is located), 17 (mid-southeast side of Madison) and 33 (Fitchburg).
This is unconscionable
It’s unconscionable the way this whole thing has been handled. Feeding the information to the press before it was available to the public, having county leaders express their preferences before the county board is briefed – making it look to the public like its a done deal. Then lining up editorials to support their options, before any committee gets a chance to vote. And all this when the resolution to support the South Tower option for the jail isn’t even introduced yet!
- Do any of the county board supervisors or the County Executive Joe Parisi care what the taxpayers think?
- Do any of the county board supervisors or the County Executive Joe Parisi care what the public in general thinks about these proposals.
- Does anyone care that 37,200 – 45,000 Dane County residents have ZERO representation not the county board at the moment?
- If we’re doing this for “medical beds” – why not wait for the mental health study to be completed, what if another option for a community restoration center is really the better way to go? (It. is.)
- Why not increase funding for diversion options by the cost of the interest on $150M in borrowing over 20 years? It would cost the same thing to taxpayers.
- Where is the public discussion, input and debate?
- Where is the equity analysis? Maybe the greenfield site is a better option? Who knows?
- What do the people most impacted think?
- Why not invest in housing and health care instead of a jail?
Imagine if we had $150,000,000 for a crisis restoration center and affordable housing. And as a result reduced the number of people in jail, and converted deputy positions to mental health and AODA staff. Or, it they took what they will be spending on interest over 20 years and invested it in community services to divert people from jail in the first place?
Do any of the county board superivsors or the County Executive Joe Parisi care about the answers to any of these questions? (I know supervisors Heidi Wegleitner, Yogest Chawla and Richard Kilmer do . . . maybe Tanya Buckingham and yet to be elected Liz Doyle . . . are there any others?) Do you know where your county board supervisor (if you have one) stands on these issues? Have you asked them?
– – – –
You can email all supervisors at county_board_recipients@co.dane.wi.us. If you choose this option, clearly state you want a reply and make sure to include your address, so your supervisor knows they should answer. If you have no supervisor at the moment – you may want to indicate that and ask the county board chair to answer – you likely will get a form letter, but its good to let her know you don’t have representation.
One not so easy way to find your county board supervisor is go to myvotewi.gov and look at my voter info and then click on “My elected officials” then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.
If you live in Madison and easier way is to use the city assessors website if you are in Madison. Scroll down to city hall and click on “Who are my elected officials” (You must be able to get there through the city clerk’s site, but I spent a minute trying to figure it out and gave up.)
Note: I spent a little long, go here – https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting and then click “Who are my elected officials?”dane could
You can also try to navigate the maps on the County Board Supervisors clunky website if you so desire. The county clerk’s site just sends you to myvotewi.com
