PROGRESS: Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center opens in 2024 after 10 years of work

For years, county officials faced various deficiencies, compliance issues, operations costs and lack of space in the current jail at 474 7^th Street, built in 1987. The approximately $70 million project was declared substantially complete on Aug. 16 and work began to move into the facility.

The 122,000-square-foot structure on the northeast side of Sioux City can hold up to 448 inmates. That's nearly double the roughly 234 inmate-capacity for the current aging jail, located across the street from the county courthouse. The new LEC has separate offices for the county sheriff and attorney, plus five courtrooms and court offices.

The facility was declared substantially complete on Aug. 16. On Sept. 19, Woodbury County officials held a grand opening ceremony. On Oct. 11 the Woodbury County Sheriff’s office moved more than 200 inmates into the new jail.

The facility is still not considered complete but is fully operation, with a few outstanding issues. In February, some areas of the ail were only able to reach 40 degrees during a cold snap.

Though the project architect designed the Law Enforcement Center to provide adequate heat during cold snaps as low as -19 degrees and maintain 72 degrees throughout the facility, problems with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC), first identified in November 2023, continued to persist in the facility. During a February cold snap, offices in the county attorney's space were barely reaching 46 degrees.

The Law Enforcement Center Authority is still working to identify and fix the issues. 

Other problems that arose this year include:

• In January, two more fire dampers were found missing in the facility, bringing the total to 39;
• In May, the Authority was alerted to air handling sounds were reaching 60 decibels in the master control and secondary housing control areas. The industry standard, in comparison, is 35 decibels;
• In July, the Authority shared 292 seismic bracings on the fire suppression system had not been installed, as called for in the design.
• In October, general contractor for the project had missed the final completion deadline and;
• In December, three areas in the LEC were found to have insufficient heat, as county officials continue to struggle to balance the heating and cooling system in the newly-opened building.

At the time the Authority awarded the general contract to Hausmann Construction, the completion date was set for March 2023. The completion date was then pushed back to August 2023, and later to Sept. 14, 2023.

Two days before the proposed completion date, on Sept. 12, 2023, LEC leaders announced the completion date had been pushed back to a proposed April 9 due to 37 missing fire dampers.

The project was then pushed to mid-May due to the mechanical work on the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC). If outdoor temperatures fell below negative 2 degrees, the thermostat in some areas of the jail wouldn't go above the 56 to 64-degree range, resulting in the need for corrective work. In May the completion date was pushed to late July and then August.