Crimestoppers chair will lead Bibb County jail expansion. How much will it cost?

The leader of a local nonprofit that helps find suspects will build the Bibb County Jail expansion, but a county official says it’s a conflict of interest and that thousands of dollars were approved without knowing specifically how much the expansion will cost.

Warren Selby, Macon Regional Crimestoppers chair, is president and CEO of Warren Associates, the construction company chosen in September to plan and build the Bibb County Jail, according to the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners.

District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart, who represents east Macon, questioned whether the arrangement is legal during a Commission Meeting on Dec. 16.

“This is a person who works for Crimestoppers, who works directly with the sheriff’s department who’s building a jail …” Stewart said. “So I would think obtaining millions of dollars from an organization that you work with is a similar conflict of interest.”

“I can’t imagine in any realm that that’s a conflict,” Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller responded.

Duke Groover, the county attorney, agreed and said, “There’s no legal ethical provision that I’m aware of that would make that a conflict.”

Sara Davis, the assistant county attorney, said the company was chosen because “they were a low cost by a large margin, but also had the best proposal” compared to five other companies that applied to lead the jail construction.

She did not expand on the cost and details of the other five proposals.

Cost of jail expansion had ‘very rough estimates’

All decisions involving the jail expansion were voted on without knowing specifically how much the construction will cost, according to Miller.

Commissioners already had a plan of what improvements are needed, according to procurement records. For example, the jail will need “a 100-to-150-bed facility, including segregated areas for maximum security offenders, mental health offenders, and a health care unit,” a solicitation document said. Commissioners also previously approved the architect and jail design.

There’s only an estimated total cost, which is around $24 million, according to Miller.

Those were “very rough estimates,” Miller told commissioners. “We gave you an estimated range last time around $24 million … but this is to do the preliminary on that.”

Warren Associates was chosen out of six construction companies by Bibb County Sheriff David Davis and a review panel including Miller; Chief Deputy Michael Scarbary; Cass Hatcher, CEO of River Edge Behavioral Health; and Clay Murphey, director of Bibb County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax program.

It’s a typical protocol to decide on a construction company before knowing the total construction cost, according to Miller. “Just like we did in the arena, just like we would do in the convention (center),” he said.

The Commission voted Dec. 16 to pay Warren Associates to find out exactly what is needed and how much it will cost.

Macon-Bibb County’s 2025 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) will pay $17,500 plus a construction management fee of 1.74% of the unknown total construction costs to Warren Associates, so it can determine the exact needs and cost for improvements, according to a county resolution. This will cover “pre-construction costs,” which include “getting the contractor on site in the building, looking at everything, doing measurements and getting ready for finalizing the price of construction,” said Sara Davis, the county attorney.

The resolution also names Warren Associates as the “construction manager at-risk,” which means it is responsible for any costs that exceed the “guaranteed maximum price” of improvements. The maximum price will be quoted at a later date once Warren Associates determines what upgrades are needed.

‘Can’t just put a Band-Aid over’

Ultimately, the resolution passed with two nays by Stewart and District 8 Commissioner Donice Bryant, who represents areas of south and west Macon.

Bryant said she worked at the Bibb County Jail from 2021 to 2024 and from 1999 to 2009. She said the conditions were “horrible” when she and other commissioners toured the jail in early 2025.

Bryant said it doesn’t make sense to fund upgrades to the jail again. Commissioners approved $2 million in improvements such as new cell locks, plumbing and electrical repairs in April 2024.

“You can’t just put a Band-Aid over and say, ‘Hey, today we’re going to fix this part,’ because in three or four years, the same thing needs doing,” Bryant said.