All of the speculation of building a new jail in Butler County is over; it is now a reality.

On Jan. 3, the Butler County Commission signed a $2.78 million general obligation warrant for the new jail. According to Commission Chairman Jesse McWilliams, this is the first one Butler County has ever done.

&#8220We got a Triple A rating for Butler County, which is the highest rating one can get,” McWilliams said.

Excel Capital Insurance out of New York will be insuring the warrant.

According to Reese Rainey of HT Capital Markets, the new general obligation warrant will be set up for 30 years at a 4.85 percent interest rate.

The overall average rate for the 30-year loan is 4.45 percent. Rainey said that one principal payment would be due on Dec. 1 of each year, and two interest payments would be due on June 1 and Dec. 1 of each year.

&#8220I am glad to work with you and am very pleased that Butler County got such a good rate,” Rainey said.

David B. Ringelstein II of Walston Wells & Birchall, LLP, is also handling the general obligation warrant for Butler County.

McWilliams said that no specific tax would be needed to pay back this g. o. warrant.

He had said earlier that payments would be made out of court cost monies, which should cover the $500,000 estimated operational costs for the new jail.

At Thursday night's Butler County Commission workshop, Bryan Moore, president of Martin & Colby Construction, proposed to execute the construction management services for the new jail.

Moore said that his company, which has recently provided the services for three other jails within the state, would charge five percent of the total cost of the jail.

In addition, there will be an extra man at the building site from his company who will help to oversee the project. This employee will work 40 hours a week at a cost of $5,000 a month.

This cost will not be included in the original five percent that the county will pay the construction company.

Moore said that an estimated time frame for the construction of the jail could run 14 to 16 months.

&#8220We want to get the project finished on time,” Moore said. &#8220We don't cut corners, but you can do other things in a more cost-effective way.”

McWilliams said that Moore's company had experience with building jails and were familiar with certain problems that might arise along the way.

He plans to propose using Martin & Colby Construction in the building of the new jail at its next commission meeting, Monday, Jan. 9.

&#8220We also owe a big thanks to Mr. Reese Rainey and Mr. David Ringelstein for all of their help in this matter,” McWilliams said.

All of the commissioners agreed that these were &#8220steps in the right direction” in moving Butler County forward.