Council joins race for prison
By Arthur McLean Editor

After being promised there would be no financial risk to the city for pursuing a women's prison facility, the Thomasville City Council voted to take the first step towards landing one.

The council voted unanimously in favor of a contract with the Franklin Resource Group, committing the city to at least the first phase of the process.

Thomasville will join with Clarke County to pursue the facility and share the initial $40,000 price tag.

The state is expected to publish a request for proposals in the first half of the year, after that, the city and county will have the Franklin Resource Group put together its proposal and send it to the state for consideration.

Only until the council and county commission vote to answer the RFP will there be an obligation to pay, said Mayor Sheldon Day.

The idea is that the city and county will create an independent authority that would handle the project, including financing, through an improvement district that would be created specifically to land and build the prison.

The authority would issue a bond to finance construction, and the state would enter into a lease-purchase agreement for 30 years to pay off the building. At the end of the 30-year lease, the state would own the prison, and the authority would be dissolved.

The process from RFP to finished construction could take up to two years and cost up to $70 million.

Johnny Crawford, the city's consultant with the Franklin Resource Group, said the city was in the lead in terms of competing with other cities.

Day has been quietly working with the Franklin Resource group for several years in anticipation of competing for a state prison bid. Most of the information needed to respond to the state's RFP is already in hand for Thomasville, because of that process.

Day said the concept the county is promoting is completely new for the state and could shape the way prison facilities are financed in the future.

Crawford claimed that the efficiency improvements between a new prison and the Tutwiler prison that the state wants to replace would likely pay for the cost of the new prison over time.

It is likely that the Southwest Alabama Medical Center would likely see an increase in business due to a prison. Crawford said nearly 50 percent of Tutwiler's expenses are related to inmate healthcare.

HIPPY

The council heard a presentation from local leaders of the new HIPPY program. HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.

HIPPY helps parents empower themselves as their children's first teacher by giving them the tools, skills and confidence they need to work with their children in the home. The program was designed to bring families, organizations and communities together and remove any barriers to participation that may include limited financial resources or lack of education, according to the organization's literature.

Judy Graham, Vic Adkison and Ellen Gates spoke about the program to the council. The program hopes to fine 70 parents in the Thomasville area to help in the next year.

"I see on a daily basis where this could impact so many of my children," Gates, a kindergarten teacher said.

The Council agreed to spend $5,000 with the program.

Other business

The council is still waiting for an opinion from the Attorney General's office regarding which election should be used in counting the alcohol petition's signatures.

A donation to the Twin Rivers Economic Development Partnership was tabled pending the city's review of its economic development commitments.

Heard a presentation from CJ Arnold on the Clarke Mobile Gas District.

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