Three committees of the Greene County Commission that are studying options for housing inmates turned their attention Tuesday to one that has not really been considered until now -- constructing a new building on a new site.

The county government must do something to relieve crowding at the county's detention center, or jail, or risk loss of state certification.

That could result in no state and federal prisoners being sent here and a loss of revenue to the county government.

County Sheriff Steve Burns has been told by the Tennessee Corrections Institute that the county needs to have a plan in place and be working to implement it this year.

The last time the three committees -- Law Enforcement, Courthouse/Workhouse and Budget & Finance -- met to discuss the jail, the consensus seemed to be in favor of adding a new "pod" of 318 beds on the grounds of the current workhouse on Summer Street.

The workhouse is a minimum-security facility, but the new pod would be a secure facility, Burns said.

That idea was put forward earlier by Commissioner Jerry Weems. By the end of Tuesday's meeting, however, Weems said that option was based on the assumption that enough land was available near the workhouse for future expansion, which apparently is not the case.

At the end of Tuesday's meeting, the three committees asked architect Dave Wright to come up with various size options and cost estimates for a new detention center, or jail, on 54 acres at the intersection of U.S. Highway 11E and Hal Henard Road.

That land has been offered to the county for $1.5 million by the owner, Wayne Hartman.

Sheriff Burns told the committees that he thinks that enough additional revenue can be generated by housing an additional 100 federal prisoners and 100 state prisoners to pay for the a new building and land without a property tax increase.

He said that housing an average of 100 federal prisoners per day for a year will generate $1.752 million, and housing 100 state prisoners will generate $1.277 million, for a total of just over $3 million.

Burns said he thinks the county's actual cost will be roughly half of that amount, leaving about $1.5 million in net revenue.

The sheriff said this money could be used to meet an annual bond payment of $1.3 million on a $20 million bond, should the county issue bonds at current rates. He said a payment of about $66,000 covers about $1 million in bonds, at current rates.

Burns noted, however, that if only a 200-bed facility is built, and if that new facility has to be occupied with 200 state and federal prisoners in order to pay for itself, then the county will not have made very much lasting progress toward relieving crowding at the detention center.

"We need to look at 300 or 400 beds, even if we have to come back and cut," the sheriff said.

He asked Wright to work up a 400-bed option. Wright said he would be able to present several options when the committees meet again on Tuesday, May 13.

Burns said he believes the commission should try to do the lowest-cost project that will address the crowding problem, and plan to reconsider the subject again in two years.

The meeting began with Burns saying that, while adding a 318-bed pod to the workhouse was "certainly a good idea," it would really need to be the second phase of a detetniton center solution involving adding beds at the current detention center.

Building at the workhouse site without directly addressing the detention center's crowding would not solve the county's immediate problem, Burns said, but would lock the county into keeping the detention center operating in downtown Greeneville for many years, because not enough space is available near the workhouse for a major expansion.

The downtown plan presented last month calls for building a three-story, 210-bed addition behind the current detention center.

The second phase of that plan would add 74 beds for female inmates to the existing detention center by converting a space now used for storage, but designed for recreation.

The historic "Old Gaol" would not be affected by this plan. Burns said he does not think it is realistic to try to move the stone jail, which is considered an historic asset and tourist attraction.

This plan would allow the detention center next to the Greene County Courthouse to be used almost exclusively for housing inmates awaiting trial in local courts.

Burns said several times during the meeting that, for logistical and safety reasons, the county detention center should be in close proximity to courts, as it is now.

The sheriff said that if the downtown option is chosen, the county also needs to seriously consider buying land on the other side of Depot Street from the current detention center, so that new courts and related offices can be located there.

Burns said that buying land on the other side of Depot Street could make the downtown option work. Without that land, the plan won't work, he said.

Burns said the city is also interested in acquiring some of the land for additional parking, and Greeneville Light & Power System is also interested in the same land.

The downtown plan also calls for the county government to purchase small lots on Sunset Drive that adjoin the workhouse property, and to attempt to buy more land on the other side of Sunset Drive, as a "cushion" for further growth.

Burns said he has inquired with Holston Home For Children, which also owns land at the rear of the workhouse, but has been told that its land is not for sale.

Burns said the existing Frontier Health building next door to the workhouse would also be desirable for expansion, but also is unlikely to be for sale.

Burns said architect Dan Bolt of Salem, Va., a jail consultant the county has hired, has said that both phases, once built, should serve the county's jail needs for 50 to 75 years, at a cost estimated at about $20 million.

He said the county government owns "a valuable piece of property" behind the former First National Bank building. The bank has no parking, Burns said.

Commissioner Phil King asked Burns and Wright if they have tried to coordinate any plans for jail expansion downtown with plans announced for "Discover Greeneville," a long-term downtown redevelopment project announced by local businessman and philanthropist.

Burns replied that he has.

Wright said he has met with the Rediscover Greeneville project architect, who is obviously interested in whatever happens near the former bank next to the Greene County Courthouse, which is to be one of the major redevelopment projects.

One possibility, Wright said, would be for the county government to construct up to a six-floor building on that site, for later court or jail or sheriff's department use.

Sheriff Burns said the Rediscover Greeneville plan "certainly wants the courts downtown," but that plan is indifferent to whether the detention center is kept downtown.

He said, "We say -- don't separate the courts from the jail," whose official name is the Greene County Detention Center.

Burns said he believes that building on the new site on Hal Henard Road off 11E would be a "very progressive" long-range approach for the county government to take.

In phases, at least some courts and the Sheriff's Department could move to that location, and have plenty of room for expansion and parking, he said.

County Mayor Alan Broyles said a concern has been expressed about "the courthouse losing its identity as the courthouse," in its downtown location, for at least some court functions.

At the least, the mayor said, Chancery Court could remain downtown if other courts are eventually moved to a justice center on the new site.

But Broyles also said there is not enough parking downtown, "and it's never going to get any better." He said his office hears "complaints every day" about parking.

Sheriff Burns said, "We don't have to have courts now, but we have to have storage." Circuit Court Clerk Gail Jeffers, whose job makes her responsible for the records of circuit, sessions, criminal and juvenile courts, told the committees that the need for records storage space is critical and getting worse daily.

Jeffers said a great many records that are used daily have to be filed in boxes rather than filing cabinets because she no longer has space in the courthouse for filing cabinets.

He showed photos of boxes stacked higher than one employee in the office could reach.

Jeffers also told the committee that Tennessee Code Section 67-4-601 has been used locally to create a $10 per case litigation fee. The law states that the proceeds from that fee "shall be used exclusively for the purposes of jail or workhouse construction, reconstruction or upgrading, or to retire debt ... or for courthouse renovation."

Jeffers spoke in response to a question from Budget Committee member Hilton Seay. Jeffers said this fee is applied to every new case in every court. She told the committees that this fee generated $88,000 in the past nine months.

After the meeting, she amended that to $84,687 for nine months, and said that the fee generated $116,315 for fiscal year 2006-07, which ended last June 30.

"I'm out of storage," Jeffers said. "I need some room," she said, and suggested that money collected by the court system could be used to provide additional storage space for the court system's records.

Commissioner John Cox asked Jeffers "What do local judges think about a justice center?"

Jeffers declined to speak for judges, but said the idea of a justice center is "fine with me."

At that point, Commissioner King said he would still like to get comments from Scott Niswonger, the local business leader and philanthropist who is backing the Rediscover Greeneville project on whatever the county government is considering.

Cox said he believes the current courthouse is old and "not sound," and should be a museum.

He said, "We ought to offer citizens a courthouse that is modern, with parking," and jail facilities adjoining it. "We don't need to be hauling" prisoners back and forth across town, he said.

No clear consensus seemed to exist for either the downtown plan, the new site with an eventual justice center, or adding to the workhouse site.

Commissioner Alex Edens said the committee has heard repeatedly that "the experts" say jails should be on one level and should not be downtown.

Edens said the county's investment downtown over the years, and the land the county owns there, make him favor downtown.