Race against winter: Officials aim for expedited Richland County Jail kitchen remodel/upgrade

MANSFIELD — Two bids were opened Tuesday from companies seeking to remodel and upgrade the 18-year-old Richland County Jail kitchen — with a difference of $148,192 between them.

Modern Builders from Mount Vernon offered to do the job for $724,008. The Setterlin Building Co. from Columbus submitted a bid of $872,200.

The architect’s final estimate for the kitchen work in the 266-bed jail was $778,720.

County commissioners in May approved a $49,000 design contract with MAD Studio Architects of Mansfield, working with architect Brad Mauer and Craig Christie with Karpinski Engineering.

Those two men will now review the bids and make a recommendation within the next week, a construction project that will use funds from the county’s capital account.

Richland County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jim Myers, the assistant jail administrator, told commissioners in May the jail averages around 215 to 220 inmates per day. That adds up to around 650 meals per day and more than 235,000 annually.

Mauer said the project will include replacing the ceramic tiled flooring with a floor that is made of resin epoxy and also replace floor drains to improve drainage in the kitchen. The construction project will take two to three months.

Some of the kitchen’s equipment, including ovens and dishwashers, will also be replaced. RCSO Maj. Jim Sweat said in May the kitchen has not been renovated since the jail opened.

“This is a kitchen that runs seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Mauer said in May. “It’s a commercial kitchen that is now going on 20 years old.”

Work should begin in early September with fall and winter looming, according to county administrator Andrew Keller. A mobile kitchen will be used during the project.

“This is going to be a very expedited process because of the season that we are in,” Keller said Tuesday. “In other words, we don’t want to be in a situation where we are operating a mobile kitchen well into December. We want to avoid that.”

He said the contractor awarded the bid will have 90 days from commencement to “achieve substantial completion on this project.”

The county currently contracts with Summit Correctional Services to provide inmate meals. The cost is about $2.42 per meal, based on 651 to 700 meals per day.

Keller has said the county is working with the company on an agreement that will have Summit sub-contract with U.S. Mobile Kitchens during the renovation. That will require commissioners to amend the contract with Summit.

Keller said Summit provided a price quote of $139,795 to supply a 48-foot mobile kitchen unit, an 8x-10 walk-in cooler, an 8×10 walk-in freezer and an outdoor dry storage unit for 12 weeks while construction is underway.

Christie said the costs of infrastructure to supply electrical power and other needs to the mobile kitchen are factored into the construction contract.

In May, Keller said the biggest challenge during the project will be maintaining the flow of meals to inmates.

“The kitchen will be unusable during this two- to three-month construction period. We are in the process of contracting for a mobile kitchen to be stationed on site adjacent to the jail to provide a seamless provision of meals,” he said.

“It’s going to be challenging as far as some of the logistics are concerned, but we are going to get it done and we are looking forward to completing this project. It’s overdue.”

County health insurance costs rising 16 percent in 2027

Commissioners approved a 16-percent increase in health insurance costs in 2027 for county general fund employees through the County Employee Benefit Consortium of Ohio

Those costs are estimated to be around $6.6 million. The county paid about $3.5 million in 2022, commissioners have said.

The increase means the county’s cost for employee health insurance will have risen 70 percent in the last five years, according to Commissioner Tony Vero, who called the rising costs “unsustainable” during a meeting in July.

Richland County joined CEBCO, a 48-county pooled health insurance organization, in 2017. The county’s current contract, which began in 2026, expires in 2028.

Vero, county administrator Andrew Keller and clerk Stacey Crall recently met with CEBCO officials. The commissioner said Richland County has experienced “some very high claim costs, on top of general inflation and then industry-wide increases.”

Vero said the county has discussed alternatives to CEBCO when the current contract ends, including the possibility of becoming self-insured.

“However, keep in mind, Richland County was once self-insured on their own, as opposed to now when we’re in a self-insured pool. There’s also discussions about opening up for other providers, so we’ll look at all options here, probably in the next year,” he said.