A new Law Enforcement and Public Safety Center is on its way to Osage County. Voters have given the go-ahead to a sales tax to fund the project in a special election yesterday. The unofficial final tally showed 1,149 voting ‘yes’, 505 voting ‘no’. Osage County now will implement a half-cent, countywide sales tax to design, build and equip the center, planned for Lyndon. It will include a 144 bed jail facility that would allow the Sheriff’s office to house inmates for other agencies. Sheriff Chris Wells says the move will generate revenue for the County and help pay for the building.
The new Law Enforcement Center would replace the current building a former nursing home the County purchased in 2006. The building has fallen into disrepair with the jail sinking, flooding when it rains and black mold in many areas. Sheriff Wells says contracts will be finalized and work on the new Law Enforcement Center will begin in the coming months.
