County commissioner candidates differ on jail location

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GREENFIELD — With 10 days to go before Election Day, the two candidates for Hancock County commissioner say finding a solution to the years-long jail problem is No. 1 on their lists.

The District 2 incumbent, Republican Marc Huber, said he’s still in favor of a proposal to build a new jail in downtown Greenfield — a plan that has lost steam lately because of funding decisions by the Hancock County Council. Democrat Zachary LaFavers, a 21-year-old Anderson University student opposing Huber, said it’s more feasible to construct a jail outside of city limits, adding that the county is running out of time.

“Now our backs are up against the wall,” LaFavers said.

LaFavers, who unsuccessfully ran as a write-in candidate for county council in 2016, said he remembers leaders discussing jail renovations and building plans when he was a teenager in Greenfield-Central Schools. Now, several years later, LaFavers said he’s seen commissioners and council members fail at a compromise on where to build the jail, a project that’s sure to exceed an initial $55 million price tag.

“It’s not really an issue of what’s the next step,” he said. “It’s an issue of who do we hold accountable for this tardiness on this issue? I feel like the commissioners and the council have sat on their hands on this one and haven’t done much as far as action.”

As an Indiana National Guardsman, LaFavers recently returned from a 10-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. LaFavers’ time in the Army taught him time management, he said, a trait that he said he’ll use if he has to schedule weeks around classes and county meetings and engagements.

Huber, who’s spent nearly four years as commissioner and two years on the county council, said the county council has veered away from the proposals in 2010 and 2016 for downtown jail locations, making it difficult on the commissioners to agree on building a jail outside of the city.

“It’s really an injustice to the taxpayer that we waste two years and a million dollars, and the rug gets pulled from under of us,” Huber said.

Splitting up the jail and sheriff’s office from the courts, probation and prosecutor’s office will result in unclear added costs for transpiration, staffing and other logistical issues, Huber said of suggestions to move the jail outside Greenfield.

Even though residents voted down a $55 million referendum in May that would’ve raised property taxes to build a jail, Huber said he believes most people know the county needs to find a solution. The failed referendum didn’t cancel the jail project; the county still needs a new facility to alleviate overcrowding, he said.

“Nobody wants to pay for it, whether it comes from property tax or income tax, but that’s the only way to pay for it,” Huber said. “To me, to build a more expensive solution with long-term recurring costs just does not make sense.”