Jail improvements continue in Wichita County and a new roof is a big part of them. The new roof for the Sprague Jail Annex is going to cost $825 thousand dollars. Wichita County Commissioners approved an action today to take bids to re-roof the Jail Annex.

Wichita County Judge Woody Gossom says that is a lot of money – but no matter what they end up deciding to do with the jail it’s going be used by Wichita County for the next two or three years and the issues with the roof must be resolved. The current roof is about 20 years old and leaky.

Judge Gossom says the roof will be similar in style to the roof on the County Courthouse. The new roof will go on over the current roof and has a 20 year warranty. Judge Gossom says it is a more usable surface which is easier to service.

Any sections where there has been moisture penetration and buildup will be removed. They will also do a scan of the roof to determine where water may have collected.

County Commissioners went through a number of different kinds of proposals and settled on the style recommended by Harper Perkins Architects. Part of the cost for the new roof will be paid by Vernon College, which leases 50 thousand square feet of the building from the county.

The County Commissioners are now putting together the plans and specifications to go out for bid. The re-roofing will take about 3 to 6 months and will start soon.

Sprague Jail Annex will also be a little cooler this summer as the updates continue thanks to new air conditioning units. Judge Gossom says that new air conditioners were installed that will be more efficient, less costly and do a better job of conditioning the air in the jail. The units cost about $17 thousand dollars. Judge Gossom says progress on the jail work orders and repairs is going well.

“They have cleared another 39 maintenance issues in the jail this week. That’s moving along really good.”

– Newschannel 6