If and when it gets built, according to Moulder

If and when that new Oconee Jail is built, the county administrator says Oconeeans can expect a safer and more efficiently run place to hold prisoners. But Scott Moulder said no one should kid himself about the costs to operate and maintain a modern-day detention center. For size reasons alone, he said, it’s going to cost more. The Oconee County administrator fielded a question yesterday from a Walhalla Rotary Club member about the efficiency with which a new jail will run, as compared to what it costs to run a smaller and older jail. “The HVAC system, the lighting, the electronics—everything will be more efficient. The flow and operation will be more efficient,” Moulder said. He also predicted that a new, 30 thousand square foot jail, and its elimination of outdoor exercise areas, will be mean less noise and safer conditions for homeowners behind the jail. Moulder concedes, however, the decision to build the new jail is something that neither he nor Walhalla Mayor Danny Edwards controls. It’ll rest with the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, a quasi-judicial body. The board must decide whether a special exception to the zoning law is warranted.