PAYETTE COUNTY, Idaho — Payette County voters rejected a bond measure that would have funded a new sheriff’s office and an updated jail facility.
“While it’s disappointing that it didn’t pass, the amount that we were short isn't overly surprising,” Payette County Sheriff Andy Creech conceded.
Just over 3,600 people cast ballots in Tuesday’s vote. While 55.7% supported the bond, it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
Hear from the Sheriff about the bond and the state of the current jail
“Obviously, the problems that we had yesterday are still problems today. We’re gonna have to continue to work on those problems even with or without the bond,” Creech explained.
The current jail, built in the 1970s, faces ongoing infrastructure issues and overcrowding.
“We’ll continue to do everything we can to repair the facility and keep it functioning,” Creech said.
When Idaho News 6 toured the jail earlier this year, multiple pods were overcrowded. Creech says that impacts public safety.
“Because we’re overcrowded, we’re putting a large amount of people out on pretrial release, we have over 300 people on pretrial release, and we continue to just add to the number of people that are out on release, and that directly affects the public's safety,” he said.
As for what’s next, Creech says there is no set plan to put the bond before voters again.
“There isn’t a set path yet on putting it back onto a ballot. We really are just going to continue to keep that conversation going, talking with her voters, our constituents, and seeing what it is that they did like out of the bond proposal, what things did they not like, and how we can improve that,” Creech concluded.
