The Bryan County Commissioners held a meeting Monday and during the meeting the commissioners discussed issues with the Bryan County Jail project.

The commissioners have decided to withhold payment to Mid Plains Construction who is in charge of installing ventilation in the jail until plans for the ventilation system are submitted.

Monty Montgomery said that each group doing work on the jail was supposed to have submitted plans at the beginning of the project, however the plans for the ventilation system were never submitted.

The plans have to be submitted to the fire marshal to approve the plans. The plans should have been approved approximately three weeks ago, according to commissioners.

Commissioners predicted that this failure to submit plans will set the entire project back approximately 30 days.

This means the jail will not be completed until after the new year. Commissioners were informed that ventilation has been set up above the security systems in the new jail already.

Commissioner Jay Perry questioned how this could be done without plans already drawn up. He noted that if this is the case and the fire marshal does not approve the plans, the work that has been done will have to be fixed.

Each payment to the company is approximately $83,000

The project’s construction manager originally suggested withholding payment because Texoma Maintenance and Refrigeration, who is subcontracted to do the ventilation work did not have the needed equipment on site.

The company did bring equipment in, but payments will continue to be withheld until the proper plans have been submitted for the fire marshal’s approval.

Commissioners also decided to look into a reported fire hazard on Quail Road. Citizens have had reason to worry about an abandoned house on the road that they feel may be a fire hazard.

The owner has not responded to communication attempts and does not live in the state. Montgomery said that he will look into the issue and report back during the next meeting of the Bryan County Commissioners.