Planning Advisory Board members yesterday renewed their call to combine minimum and maximum security operations in one new jail in Glen Burnie.
During a capital budget presentation, they called the county's plan to build a minimum security jail on Ordnance Road and renovate the existing jail on Jennifer Road in Annapolis a waste of money.
"I can't see putting [17 million] bucks into that location," said board Chairman Dallas Evans, referring to the cost of renovating the jail on Jennifer Road for prisoners awaiting trial and those who require higher security.
He asked county officials to draft a comparison of the costs of the two-jail plan and one to house all inmates on Ordnance Road.
Not surprisingly, North County elected officials, who have fought the county's effort to build even the minimum security jail in Glen Burnie, were angered by the board's suggestion.
"It's just another way to make a dumping ground out of North County," complained State Sen. Philip C. Jimeno, a Brooklyn Park Democrat.
"My initial fear was when you put the first bed at Ordnance Road, it becomes a prison compound. The federal government will use it, the state will use it, maybe even Baltimore City will try to use it."
State Sen. C. Edward Middlebrooks, an Old Mill Republican, said, "I would fight very vigorously were [the county] to follow what I would consider a very ludicrous recommendation by the Planning Advisory Board."
He said County Executive John G. Gary has assured him that nothing more than a minimum security jail will go on Ordnance Road.
"I believe he would honor his commitment not to let that happen," Mr. Middlebrooks said.
Richard Baker, detention center superintendent, told the board that state officials have warned Anne Arundel that abandoning the Jennifer Road complex could jeopardize matching state funds for all or part of the county's jail project.
Too much state money alreadyhas gone into Jennifer Road, he said.
According to the plan Mr. Baker presented yesterday, minimum security prisoners would be housed in a $28 million jail on Ordnance Road. The rest would be kept at Jennifer Road after a $17 million renovation.
Last year, the advisory board voted against a budget request by then-County Executive Robert R. Neall for $1.16 million to match state money allocated to plan the Ordnance Road jail. The County Council included the money in the budget.
The board, which is appointed by the county executive, makes nonbinding recommendations on capital budget spending.
"This board has been very consistent" in opposing the two-jail concept, Mr. Evans said. "We're the only ones who have been consistent. Everyone else has been waffling."
Two other board members joined Mr. Evans in opposing two jails.
Robert D. Voegtlin wondered why the county couldn't take the $11 million the state is expected to contribute to the Ordnance Road jail and turn down the money for the Jennifer Road renovation.
The state would "be saving $4 million," he said.
The two-jail plan is "not a rational decision," said board member Newton Gentry III. "It's not an economical decision."