When we the voters elect county officials, we expect them to make decisions for we the taxpayers. However, every time something comes up in the county about an important decision like the new county prison or other construction, no one takes responsibility.

First they hire a consultant and then they appoint a committee — the committee members always being people involved with the county.

Why do we hire a consultant, to whom we pay tens of thousands of dollars, to tell our elected officials if we need a new jail or where it should be built? And, why do we need a committee that consists of the prison warden, county property director, a judge, the sheriff, district attorney, county planning director, and representatives of a local architectural firm and the union that represents the prison employees? Why are they the ones to tell our county commissioners where the prison should be built?

Don’t we elect our county commissioners to make these decisions?

With all these important people giving advice, not one looked or planned for the future. If they would have looked to the future growth of Butler County, they would have known the county would be getting a new judge, plus another one in the near future. Thus, they would have known that the county would need more space for courtrooms, plus office space for these new judges and also for the county government.

Why didn’t anyone talk to the Butler Eagle and see if the newspaper would be willing to sell the property where it has its main offices? The Eagle already has built a new printing plant on Wayne Street; my guess is that someday the printing plant will house the other offices too.

If the county and Eagle could have made a deal, the county could have built the new jail right on the spot; put a walkway across the street, right into the old courthouse; and gutted the inside of the current prison and remodeled it for the new judge’s chambers and other county government office space.

By the time the new jail is built, county officials will be talking about needing more space for the county and crime enforcement.

It’s time our elected officials quit hiring consultants and take responsibility for decisions on their own. Not only would this save the county a lot of money, but also a lot of time to do what we know needs to be done.

By dragging out the jail deal from the beginning, the project is going to cost the county millions of dollars more than it should have cost.

Let’s not repeat what happened with the jail and 911 center deals.

Look to the future and use the old county jail for the new courtrooms and office space that we know the county is going to need.

It’s time to quit debating where the best site would be for the new prison. It’s a done deal. It’s time to move ahead, get it built, and start saving taxpayers’ money.

I might be wrong, but I see tax increases coming again real soon.