Several contractors from the Upper Peninsula met with Houghton County on Wednesday to discuss details of a new jail project. The Jail Committee hosted an industry day to invite contractors to learn more about the county’s needs and answer questions about ways to lower the project’s cost. Some of those companies in attendance included LLJ Contract, Granger Construction, Miron Construction, and Upper Peninsula Engineers and Architects. Moyle Construction and Gundlach-Champion have also expressed interest, but did not have a company representative at Industry Day.
Houghton County has sought a construction millage to build a new jail facility in 2000, 2010, 2018, and 2025. Following the most recent attempt in 2025, voters denied the proposal. That design was based on work from Abonmarche and Securitecture.
To help Houghton County determine the project’s cost, contractors at industry day encouraged the county to use those existing designs as a base. Todd Sabourin, senior vice president of Miron Construction, explained the complexity of designing a jail facility.
“A simple office building or apartment building or something like that is very easy to design. It’s straightforward,” Sabourin said. “The jail unfortunately you’ve got a lot of complexities. You’ve got a lot of code requirements and you’ve got MDOC. You’ve really got a lot tying you down. You really want your architect and engineer to be working directly with the county and taking what would be your best interest at heart, not necessarily contractors.”
Sheriff Josh Saaranen explained the number of beds a new jail will need to allow the department enough space to adjust to various classifications of inmates.
“You know that this facility is not just a jail provides other the other things that we do as a sheriff’s office from our field services to investigations and some of those secure areas also trickle down into those spaces such as evidence storage,” Saaranen said.
Faith Morrison, co-chair of the Houghton County Jail Committee, described the current facility’s limitations. “Right now we have a tiny space that you wouldn’t use for much of anything in a home that serves for attorney client, housing of juveniles temporarily while they wait to be moved, and a number of other activities,” Morrison said.
Another decision Houghton County will need to determine is between a design-build pathway, familiar to many municipalities, or a construction management process that may have high upfront costs but could help keep costs lower by the end of the project.
Todd Butler, project director for Granger Construction, compared the two approaches. “When you consider a fee that a construction manager would apply to the cost of the work, typically, at least when we do a design-build job, think our fees are a little bit more on design-build because there’s a little bit more risk in a design-build delivery than in a construction management approach,” Butler said.
In 2022, Houghton County purchased the site of a former church on Sharon Avenue. The county’s jail facility and sheriff department would attempt to use as much of the existing infrastructure on the property to help keep costs low.
Tom Tikkanen, chairman of the Houghton County Board of Commissioners, highlighted the property’s advantages. “Moved into the city of Houghton thanks to the stellar work of Commissioner Brits and Commissioner Jensen. All utilities are available there. The other thing that’s important is that is not an area that has been subject to washouts or infill,” Tikkanen said.
Todd Laroux, director of the Houghton County Building Department, noted infrastructure challenges. “Water main would obviously have to be grabbed from Sharon Avenue and brought in. There’s not a big enough water main that services the church that would service fire suppression and everything,” Laroux said.
Several important dates are coming up for the jail project. Rough orders of magnitude estimates are due to the county clerk by July 29. The Jail Committee will meet July 30 to review estimates and make recommendations to the board of commissioners. On August 3, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners will determine ballot language ahead of the August 11 deadline for the November election.
Those interested in learning more about the Houghton County jail project can find details online.
