Sherman resolution opposes county jail expansion plan

As plans to expand the Grayson County Jail continue to move forward, city of Sherman officials took time to formally voice opposition to the plan with a resolution Monday evening. In a unanimous vote, the Sherman City Council approved taking a formal stance in addressing opposition to the plan to expand the jail in downtown Sherman.

Now, those same officials are asking county leaders to consider alternative locations.

“I don’t think any of us on the council disagree with the need for additional jail space,” City Council Member Pam Howeth said. “I think the only question we have is we have heard from our business owners downtown that we need to do things to enhance the business atmosphere, to try and draw more citizens downtown…With the jail expansion, if it happens downtown, we are concerned that it would counteract all of the things that we are trying to do as a city to help our local business owners.”

The resolution comes amid efforts by the city to revitalize the downtown business district with new businesses and attractions. City leaders recently dedicated funding to large-scale improvements aging to water and sewer infrastructure in the district in an effort to draw people to the city’s core.

The recent debate on the future of the jail and downtown Sherman started in December when county commissioners approved a $140,000 needs assessment for the jail. Last month, the county moved forward with an agreement between the county and Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects for deign of the expansion.

“Building a jail is never easy,” County Judge Bill Magers said in June. “Nobody likes it. It doesn’t make the county any money. It is a necessary evil in every sense of the word.”

The project would utilize about $16 million of federal funding to construct a new 300-bed wing of the jail facility. utilizing adjacent land that the county has acquired.

Despite the progress, city leaders asked the county to pull the brakes of the project and enter discussions for an alternative location for the jail outside of the central business district. By moving the jail, city leaders said they hoped to encourage continued interest and development downtown.

“As you should know, this council has OK’d the largest utility upgrade in the history of Sherman in downtown recently,” Sherman Mayor David Plyler said. “We’ve spent millions of dollars in downtown and we want to continue to develop our central business district. We want to engage in dialogue with the county on how we can engage in good planning downtown to make it walkable and make all of our businesses flourish down there.”

Alisha Rosenthal has owned and operated a business less than two blocks from the jail for the past four years. During that time, she has had to call Sherman Police three times due to recently released persons who were going into her store looking for a phone or restrooms.

“We’ve put in many different things like panic buttons, door locks and cameras to hopefully avoid terrible interactions,” she said. “However, I feel like adding 300 additional inmates to the jail is going to increase the likelihood of dangerous encounters.”

Rosenthal said she asked commissioners for insurance that her business will be safe with the increased activity at the jail. County officials directed her to city law enforcement, but Rosenthal noted that Sherman plans to move the police department away from downtown when the new police station is built near FM 1417.

Long-time Judge Rayburn Nall also spoke in opposition to the expansion of the jail in downtown, noting that he has seen many jails and courts in his career. If Sherman wants an example of what it is aiming for, it only has to look about 35 miles south, he said.

“McKinney was in a very similar situation to what Sherman is,” he said. “They had a square downtown with a courthouse on it. They built a justice center very similar to ours a couple blocks off the square. That lasted about 20 years, or something like that.”

The boom in McKinney didn’t happen until they tore that courthouse down and moved,” he added that similar action as vital to the revitalization of downtown Sherman.

Karen Tooley spoke against the project not only on her behalf but on behalf of the many business owners she has spoken to in recent weeks through her week with Downtown Sherman Now. In her discussions, Tooley said many business owners are opposed to the project and what impact it would have on future planning and development in the district.