Gage County Town Hall examines strength of proposal to upgrade jail before November ballot

BEATRICE, Neb. (KLKN) – The Gage County Sheriff’s Office held its fourth town hall meeting on Monday to discuss plans to upgrade the county’s detention center.

The proposal was first introduced in March 2026 and seeks to modernize the current, aging jail built in 1977.

Its priorities include making the jail safer and more secure for both inmates and staff, increasing capacity for a multi-use law enforcement center, while remaining fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.

ALSO SEE: Gage County town hall launches new plans to expand sheriff’s office and detention center.

Most in attendance at Monday’s meeting could agree that the community needs an upgraded facility. However, they had questions and residents weren’t the only ones.

A member of the plan’s design team questioned the federal constraints their team faced, a representative from Nebraska’s Jail Standards division questioned whether the plans were up to par and county officials considered if they had enough information to put this on the November ballot.

“I think we need to answer as many questions for the public as we can,” said Sheriff Millard Gustafson, who said he knows the community wants and needs this upgrade.

One reason being the reaction from a grand jury after an investigation into the jail concluded.

Gustafson says two comments really stood out to him.

“One was they like to see medical professional 24-7-365 in the jail and they like to see basically a new facility or at least this one upgraded immensely,” he said.

As for questions about costs and location, the Sheriff added that he hoped to receive more information from those presenting at the town hall as well.

Chris Harrifeld is from the Nebraska Crime Commission, specifically Nebraska Jail Standards Division, serving as a neutral party overseeing the plans.

“This jail right here does not meet what we call chapter 15. Those are our new jail construction standards,” said Harrifeld.

“They don’t meet it on square footage and there’s different things where they don’t meet it.”

He says many operational procedures within the jail were ‘grand-fathered’ in, but those too ultimately, have an expiration and will require updates.

Also in the room were representatives from Davis Design who is handling the architectural design of the new facility.

They spoke about the ways the new layout helps resolve current issues the jail faces such as small spaces and blind spots but also, spoke on the constraints they face.

“The Jail Standards Committee are not the only authority that have the oversight of this. There’s the State Fire Marshal, the Nebraska Accessibility Board; they also have the ability to find faults and find reasons to cease operation here,” one rep explained to audience.

Community members also weighed in, such as Randy Schluter, former Beatrice principal and superintendent for Tri-County Schools who was concerned about where the new jail would be located.

His hope?

“They build something that is functional for 2026 and it is going to be functional in 2050 when it’s still used,” said Schluter.

Gage County Supervisor, Emily Haxby, told Channel 8 that the board is looking at several locations, but a final location will be determined based on what’s learned through cost analysis and land studies.

Stan and Judy Meyer have lived in Beatrice for over 50 years and spoke with Channel 8 about their concerns over costs.

“We know when it’s not your money, it’s so easy to spend, so we’re concerned about the taxes going up and we still have a fire department that’s not completely paid for,” said Mr. Meyer.

During the meeting, a ‘Cost of Waiting’ presentation indicated the projected costs over time.

It showed Bond terms from 2009 as $11 million for 110 beds compared to the 2027 projected cost of $41 million for 70 beds, increasing even more to nearly $57 million for 70 beds in 2031.

Haxby says the County has more to do to make an educated decision on whether to put this proposal on the November ballot.

At the time of this reporting, the Gage County Board of Supervisors planned to vote on that decision at their next meeting on Aug. 19.

However, Haxby has since confirmed with Channel 8 that they will most likely hold off on that vote until the Spring.