County building project hits unexpected extra cost - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

Eau Claire (WQOW) - Work on Eau Claire County's $42 million jail is almost complete.

The county is holding open houses this weekend for the public to check out the new jail. The new, 260 bed jail is bigger than the old one, and allows the sheriff's department to house inmates according to classification, based on their behavior. The entire project, including the courthouse remodel, is under budget right now, but that could change. The Huber portion of the current jail now needs to be remodeled, something the county hadn't planned on originally doing. The number of female Huber inmates has gone down-- so the county will be moving those inmates to the male Huber side. But modifications need to be done in order to house both male and female inmates.

"We will be in the process of removing the cells on the third floor that currently hold prisoners, and we will spend several months doing that," says Jim Dunning, the President of the Eau Claire County Building Committee.

The county is considering leasing the extra space that will be left after the remodeling on the third floor to an outside agency.

If you'd like to take a look inside the new county jail, there will be another open house Sunday from nine to one. They'll be giving tours of the jail every 15 minutes. The tours last about 45 minutes.