News Photo by Julie Riddle A balcony providing access to upper-floor living quarters overlooks an inmate day room at the new Alpena County Jail. Inmates were moved to the new jail over the weekend.

ALPENA — The old Alpena County Jail is no longer in service as county law enforcement officials transferred 55 inmates to the new jail facility on M-32 over the weekend.

The transfer happened in the early morning hours for safety.

The move is the culmination of a years-long project that began with discussions among county officials about the need for a new jail, the passing of a 1-mill property tax to pay for it, and numerous setbacks during construction and the planned move into the new facility.

To run the new jail, the county had to hire five additional correction officers, which brought the total to 18 officers, Alpena County Sheriff Steve Kieliszewski said.

Of those, four came from other counties.

Kieliszewski said some items remain at the old jail, much of which will be auctioned off, and the county Board of Commissioners will likely accept bids for the old facility and property.

“Now, when you go back to the jail, it is sort of eerie, because it is almost empty and nobody is there,” he said. “All of this has really been surreal.”

The jail project has had its share of ups and downs.

A cost estimate error forced about $3 million in cuts to the jail design early on, which forced the county to reduce the size and capacity of the jail, as well as what the finished product will look like. There was also a delay for needed steel and unexpected water costs further hampered the project.

Earlier this year leaks in the new roof were discovered and the county needed to spend $119,000 to make the needed fix.

The total amount budgeted for the jail was $11.4 million.

The timeline to get the inmates transferred to the jail was also longer than hoped, as more corrections officers needed to be hired to meet the requirements for the new jail established by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

A new jail was needed well before the current project began.The layout at the former jail didn’t allow staff to work as efficiently as it will now. It’s also failing structurally and doesn’t meet some Michigan Department of Corrections standards. The state has cited the county in the past for not being able to separate inmates according to their threat level and for conditions of the building.

That shouldn’t be an issue now with the new facility.

Kieliszewski said despite all of the pitfalls and setbacks, he said the project, and stress that came along with it, was worth it in the end.

“It was worth it without a doubt,” Kieliszewski said.