A legislative logjam over whether to build a $22.5 million jail annex in Denver apparently has been broken.
Councilman Michael Hancock moved to bring the issue before the full City Council on Monday after council members deadlocked earlier this week over the annex during a council committee meeting.
Hancock said he decided to bring forth the proposal because he had 10 solid votes for the project on the 13-member city council and saw no reason for further delay. In addition, the chief opponent of the annex, Councilman Doug Linkhart, said he now was dropping his objections, likely paving the way for a unanimous vote for the project on Monday.
Linkhart said he turned supportive after he “negotiated a deal with the mayor’s office,” but details of that understanding were still being worked out late Friday afternoon.
Roxane White, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the administration was hoping to “have a mutually agreeable safety goal” by Monday night.
She said the proposed agreement would include a commitment that the first $500,000 in revenue over operating costs raised by renting out excess beds in the jail annex would go toward financing programs to help parolees re-enter society.
Linkhart previously had waged a months-long campaign against the annex in which he argued it was unnecessary and wasteful. He said rehabilitation programs and alternative sentencing had successfully driven down jail populations over the past three years, making the annex unnecessary.
Linkhart had advocated not going forward with the annex so the city could spend more on rehabilitative programming.
Jail officials had said the annex was needed to replace antiquated jail space. They added that it would play a vital role in absorbing future growth in jail populations and would ensure a safer environment for inmates and sheriff’s deputies.
The plans for the 256-bed annex at Smith Road were approved by voters as part of a $373 justice center package that also authorized a new courthouse and downtown jail. On Monday, the council will vote on the contract with FCI Constructors Inc. that would make the annex a reality.
The plans for the annex call for razing seven buildings at the Smith Road location, construction of the annex, the building of a new parking lot and new landscaping.
Linkhart said that although he couldn’t stop the annex, he believed his fight had yielded some positive results.
“At least if we build the thing, it will be put to a wiser use now,” Linkhart said. “And that’s the best I could hope for, really.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
