JEFFERSON – The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners and Sheriff Bill Niemi invited residents and community stakeholders to attend a Public Information Session on Monday, Jan. 5, regarding the Ashtabula County Public Safety Center project.
The session, held in the County Commissioners’ Conference Room on the 2nd Floor of the Old Courthouse, provided an overview of the current status of the project and outlined anticipated next steps.
The commissioners and Sheriff Bill Niemi were joined by Eric Ratts of DLZ, the project architect.
The group shared updates and the project’s progress, as well as conceptual renderings of the facility.
“This is one of several meetings that will occur over the next few years as this project moves forward,” Commissioner Casey Kozlowski said. “While we’re still very early in the process, it’s important that we keep our community informed about our progress, our planning and the steps ahead. Transparency and communication will be main priorities…The Public Safety Center project has truly been nearly 10 years in the making.”
He said the project is able to move forward in large part due to the success the County had in securing a $15 million grant from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
The grant is paired with funds that the county has saved, most of which has come from grant sources as well, Kozlowski said.
“There’s still much more work ahead, and I know there will be many questions along the way,” Kozlowski said. “Our commitment is to be open, transparent and proactive in sharing information as it becomes available.”
Commissioner Kathryn Whittington said it’s important to have community involvement as they move through this very important project.
“I’m looking forward to listening and taking in all of the questions that you have [and] to work through those as we move through this project,” Whittington said.
Commissioner J.P. Ducro IV told the people gathered that they appreciate them taking the time to be a part of the process.
He said they welcome questions and want them to engage in the process.
“We also really want to engage your patience. This is going to be a disruptive process for our community because there’s going to be a lot of moving parts to make this happen, but it is a necessary component of keeping our community safe, overcoming challenges that we have in our existing jail, [and] dealing with a lot of different aspects of our community that this project is going to address,” Ducro said.
As they work through the frustrations of noise and traffic, getting out of their comfort zone and doing things a little differently, Ducro asked people to understand the goal is to make the community better as a whole in the long run.
“This is a very important project that we’ve been striving for for years,” Niemi said. “Ashtabula County needs this jail. We need to have the facility and the rooms to put criminals in jail…This project’s very important. It’s important we’re doing it the way we are.”
He said the way they’re doing the project is more affordable for Ashtabula County.
The 55,000-square-foot expansion will be built on the parking lot attached to the current jail. The $36 million project would add 209 beds, more than tripling the current jail’s capacity.
The expansion would include some amount of renovation to the first floor of the current space and would include a new booking area and flexible space for education and rehabilitation programs, such as GED classes or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for people in custody.
The project will also add special housing and court holding as well as include renovations to the jail’s sallyport, intake, booking and medical and mental-health areas.
The current facility is older and doesn’t meet the standards or needs in today’s society, Niemi said.
“It costs the County thousands of dollars in repairs and continues to create issues structure wise,” Niemi said.
In his remarks, Ratts spoke about the project phases.
These phases include:
• Feasibility Study
• Schematic Design – Jan. 5, 2026
• Design Development – March 2026
• Construction Documents – June 2026
• Guaranteed Maximum Price and Permitting
• Construction Administration
• Transition and Occupancy
The Schematic Design is what they were presenting today, Ratts said.
“That’s taking all those items from the study and starting to develop much more of a detailed floor plan, starting to look at the site circulation, parking, utilities, as well as what the volume of the building may be,” Ratts said.
They then go into Design Development.
“That’s when we bring in all of the engineering aspects of it,” Ratts said.
The Construction Documents is the “blueprints,” he said.
Ratts shared some insight about the project, including how paramount it is to meet the Ohio jail standards.
He also talked about working with the sheriff to ensure the facility operations drive the design.
These elements include safety and security for inmates and staff; normative environment that is adaptable; therapeutic spaces that are flexible; inmate community areas; and transition to the community.
There also is a focus on staff retention and staff recruitment, he said.
Ratts also spoke of the fiscal and operational responsibility of designing a modern jail.
Planning and designing the right beds is more critical than building more of the wrong beds, he said. Planning the wrong type of beds will result in additional beds and increased costs, he said.
Elements of designing a modern jail include rehabilitation, mental health, behavioral management, biophilic design and continuum of care.
“Our design approach is called an Indirect Podular Remote Supervision,” Ratts said.
He showed slides of conceptual renderings both inside and outside the facility. He asked that no one photograph the indoor floor plan and site plan due to the security aspects.
Ratts also talked about court integration, and improving the process of the movement of inmates going to court.
Kozlowski also talked about the effect on parking the project will have, as well as possible solutions.
“With this project taking place in downtown Jefferson where space is already limited, parking will understandably become an important topic,” Kozlowski said. “Because the new facility will be constructed on the current employee parking area, it will also impact some of the public parking spaces in our general parking lot.”
He said they will need to acquire additional parking solutions.
“There will need to be a bit of a mindset shift. I think that’s really important. In many downtown environments, it’s common that parking isn’t always directly adjacent to your destination, and that will increasingly be the case here. However, we are planning ahead to ensure that there’s adequate, accessible parking available,” Kozlowski said.
He said several steps have already taken place to address the need.
One plan is for the expansion of parking at the Public Defender’s Office (former KeyBank site) on East Jefferson Street.
“It actually has a very underutilized parking area,” Kozlowski said. “We are working with the county engineer. We will be transforming that into a greater amount of parking for employees to utilize.”
He noted that it’s a little bit of a distance from the current complex.
“There will be certainly some folks who will be walking to be able to get to their office here,” Kozlowski said.
Additionally, Kozlowski said the County acquired property behind the Community First Credit Union a couple months ago.
“We intend to also transform that into a public parking lot,” Kozlowski said. “That will serve the main courthouse building. The estimate is roughly a hundred spots or so in that specific parking area.”
He said there is a shared drive that exists between the credit union and the neighboring law office.
“We’ll also have to create a pedestrian walkway,” he said.
He anticipates some employee parking to be there.
The County also is partnering with Huntington Bank to lease some of the parking spaces in the lot behind their building on West Jefferson Street.
“Beyond that, we continue to explore some additional sites for parking. We’re working through that,” Kozlowski said.
That process includes seeing how much of the existing parking lot will be consumed by the facility.
He also talked about the future location of Environmental Services, which currently is housed in a building on West Walnut Street owned by the County.
“That building will be coming down, as well as the blue house. Many of you probably remember that as the old professional building…That building also will be coming down,” Kozlowski said. “Both those parcels will likely become part of the new facility or parking, all the above.”
He said the County is exploring additional property for the project, but no final decision has been made on any additional property.
“That will be fleshed out through the process,” Kozlowski said.
Environmental Services will be moving to a new building that will be located on property adjacent to the Ashtabula County Engineer’s Office, which has an address of 186 E. Satin St.
The County owns two parcels adjacent to the Engineer’s staging area, he said.
“Design is underway for that project,” Kozlowski said.
Several property owners on West Walnut Street spoke during the comment portion of the meeting.
One person who spoke was Judy Kampf.
“Our concerns are the parking,” Kampf said. “Parking in Jefferson in general is a problem, and I understand your dilemma with that.”
She said she was glad they pulled up a site map for a visual.
“That’s my point. You’re looking at parcels on a site map. These are our homes. And I’ve lived in my home for 32-plus years. My neighbor for 50-plus years. We have been approached at taking our backyards, to which we have voiced a negative on that. Three of the houses have been approached [about] taking down their homes. These are where we live,” Kampf said.
She said she understands a decision hasn’t been made yet.
“I certainly hope that you will take into consideration that these are our homes, and we are residents of this village. I understand the need for the expansion and all,” Kampf said. “But please consider the fact that we’re residents of this village and these are our homes before you really look into taking either the home itself or [the backyards] – I would have no backyard whatsoever, and neither would my neighbors. So just please take that into consideration.”
After listening to the concerns from Kampf and other property owners, Ducro said, “Our goal is to take as little property as really necessary.”
He said they are taking into consideration that some of the property is people’s homes, as well as the cost involved, demolition and how much space would be acquired.
Ducro said they’re trying to use property they already have or that has already been cleared.
“There’s lots and lots of factors. We’re sensitive to the timing of things, but we also don’t want to race into a decision without vetting all the options first,” Ducro said.
People can follow the project updates on the County website at www.ashtabulacounty.us/publicsafetycenter.
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