Commissioners may shelve new jail project

Despite being outdated, too small and possibly out of compliance with federal rules, the Lyon County jail in Yerington will have to suffice, for now.

Lyon County Commissioners will consider tabling any further action on the jail project until the economy improves at its Thursday meeting.

However, they will still hear a presentation on the possibility of using donated Dayton land for the facility when they are able to build a new jail.

"We all know how the economy has tanked," said County Manager Dennis Stark. "We are waiting to hear how state issues are going to impact us."

He said the commissioners might want to put the jail issue on hold until things level off and county officials can get a better read on finances.

He added that the next state Legislative session would impact Lyon County a lot.

"It's a trickle-down effect on the state, seeing Sen. (Harry) Reid and Gov. (Jim) Gibbons try to get some of the bailouts to ease the shortfall at the state level," he said.

"If they don't get it, they may want us to absorb stuff they do, which we don't have the finances to do."

He said that since there were requests for proposals and qualifications submitted, it was only fair to the contractors to publicly decide whether to proceed given the current economic situation.

"We've done a lot of work getting to this level." he said. "Hopefully, we're not going to say we're not doing anything, just putting it on hold."

- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.