Del Norte supervisors approved a grant application necessary to obtain $3.08 million for jail renovations. | File photo: Jessica C. Andrews

Previously:

• Del Norte Will Get $3.1 Million for Jail Improvements, Though Officials Are Unsure When and Say More Funding is Needed; Mentally Incompetent Inmates Still a Concern

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More than a year after they were told to expect roughly $3 million in federal funding for jail improvements, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors approved the grant application necessary to obtain that money.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein promised that $3.08 million in Congressionally Designated Spending to Del Norte County through the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill. That money is being disbursed to Del Norte via the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities Projects program, Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper told supervisors Tuesday.

Since Del Norte’s lobbyist in Washington informed officials that the county’s request for Community Funded Project dollars was approved in March 2022, they determined they had to go through a grant application process since those dollars would be disbursed through the USDA.

Del Norte also contracted with NMR Architects to develop a project that would make the most of the money the community was getting, Hooper said.

“We’re now at the point where we’re having the pieces assembled in consultation with the Board of State and Community Corrections to focus on those highest priorities within the jail,” he said. “There’s larger needs within the jail as I alluded to within the Board report that the architects we’ve contracted with have given us a really good idea how we can approach with hopefully other potential funding that would become available.”

In response to District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey’s question about how long it would take for those dollars to get to Del Norte, Hooper said he hopes the process is “typical in terms of drawing down on a federal award.”

Del Norte has four years to spend that funding, he said.
According to Hooper’s staff report, the project will consist of rehabilitating the parts of the jail that were built in 1964 — pods A, B and C — as well as the mental health and visitation areas.

In addition to drafting the federal grant application to obtain the $3.08 million from the USDA, the county has also conducted reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and, because of the jail’s age, the National Historic Preservation Act.

Hooper said the county intends to pursue further funding for other projects within the Del Norte County Jail. He said he would give a more thorough presentation to the Board of Supervisors as well as conduct a public hearing possibly next month.

Hooper’s presentation came after Greg Burns, of Thorn Run Partners, Del Norte’s lobbyist in Washington D.C., gave supervisors a federal legislative update. About two years ago, Congress resurrected the Community Funded Projects program for the first time in roughly a decade.

In addition to jail renovations, $550,000 in Congressionally Designated Spending dollars are going toward a new computer-aided dispatch system for the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office.
Sen. Alex Padilla has also requested $1.8 million in Congressionally Designated Spending for work at Pyke Field, however that’s not a done deal, Burns said.

“We won’t know for sure until the end of this calendar year or maybe after,” he said. “But we might have early indications this month as to whether that was successful.”

Both Huffman and Feinstein also support the Pyke Field project, Burns said.

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