Comanche County commissioners discuss how to keep prisoners cool

Comanche County Commissioners are searching for a solution to a hot situation at the Comanche County Detention Center.

District 3 Commissioner Josh Powers asked for a solution to a problem that surfaced last week during a power outage. A fire in the east Lawton PSO substation cut off power for many entities in the downtown area, including the Comanche County Courthouse and Comanche County Detention Center. While a generator was available to cover some power needs, it isn’t strong enough to run the chiller that keeps the detention center air conditioned, said Detention Center Administrator Bill Hobbs. That meant the center was without air conditioning until power was restored to the downtown area.

Hobbs said he began investigating the issue, and discovered one nearby business has a 400-kilowatt generator that was sufficient to power the building’s elevator and chiller; another entity said its generator was 600 kilowatts. The detention center generator is 300 kilowatts.

“I’m concerned about the power being out,” Powers said, adding the courthouse outage was a lesser issue because people there could leave the building when it became too hot, while in the detention center, “400 people were not allowed to leave the building.”

“There’s no backup to operate the chiller,” Hobbs said.

Powers said the solution is finding a way to run the chiller during power outages. And, he wants county staff to investigate ideas, which could include either providing a larger generator for the detention center or finding a smaller secondary generator specifically for the chiller. Powers said most companies will provide an assessment to determine how big the generator needs to be.

Central District Commissioner Johnny Owens said funding is available, explaining commissioners have decided against a project to tear down a former bank building immediately west of the courthouse to create more parking. Deleting that project means there is $900,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the county to reallocate, he said.