Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the vote count. It was 10 for and three opposed, not seven for and three opposed.
Ithaca, N.Y. — The Tompkins County Legislature approved the bid to build an already approved jail expansion in a 10-3 vote Tuesday night.
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The county will devote $730,000 in contracts to Andrew R. Mancini Associates, Inc., of Endicott; the King & King Mechanical, Inc., of Auburn, the Mechanical contract; Matco Electric Corporation, of Vestal, the electrical contract; and Kimble, Inc., of Elmira, the plumbing contract.
“The project will construct a covered outdoor inmate recreation area, and will convert the current indoor recreation space to dormitory space for seven inmates — a change expected to reduce the number of inmates who need to be boarded out to other counties,” the county said in a statement.
The three voting against the expansion were legislators Carol Chock, Kathy Luz Herrera and Leslyn McBean-Clairborne.
Chock “thanked all involved who worked hard to make this a better project, but she said she cannot support any expansion of beds in the jail,” according to a statement from a county’s spokesperson.
For background on the jail expansion, see here.