WEBER COUNTY, Utah — A question on the ballot for Weber County voters on the Nov. 21 election was for a $98 million bond to expand the jail complex and establish the Weber County Justice Center of the initial results, after polls closed on election day, most voters were against the measure.
According to the Ogden NAACP executive board member Angel Castillo, who also serves on the Weber County Sheriff's Re-Entry Coalition, the proposal was meant to add more beds to a jail that is at capacity and bring more services under one roof.
“It would allow a place to have services centralized, so that inmates may access them and have the best chance at not coming back,” said Castillo. “The whole idea is not to come back to the system because it costs us money and we want everybody to have the tools they need to be successful.”
More additions would be more video court spaces to reduce personnel and cost to take people to a physical court, more medical beds because there are now only 6 for sometimes as many as 800 inmates, mental health services, diversion programs, job skills training and more.
“Centralizing all these issues and matters is key to many factors. It reduces our overall cost of operation, and we can pull our staff and resources together to handle those issues that challenge us,” explained Weber County Sheriff, Ryan Arbon.
Sheriff Arbon explained that this is not the end of the process. They will keep working on addressing these concerns for space and figure out the best way to find solutions.
“We trust our public, we listen to them, they made a clear message that they’re not ready for this right now for a number of reasons but as promised, as sheriff, our focus and primary reason that we do what we do is public safety, we’ve got to work on that and do better," said Sheriff Arbon. "So, we’re going to regroup and get staff together and come up with some other options."
It was a $98 million bond over 21 years, costing homeowners about $4 per month on property taxes, and about $9 for businesses.
“I’ve heard the term ‘tax fatigue.’ I understand that. There’s always a question of is this the right time," he said. "Well it not be on that end of it, but for us, it’s the right time because of those challenges. We’ve got to do something.”
Adding that they will continue to do what they can to continue working on a solution.
“We’re going to press forward and we’re going to get these issues taken care of,” said Sheriff Arbon.
