Voters in Cerro Gordo County have passed a referendum for a long-needed jail facility. Just under 63-percent of the voters approved the 13-and-a-half million dollar bond issue for the county’s new law enforcement center. The county proposes to build a facility that would house a 140-bed jail, the sheriff’s department, joint dispatch center with Mason City, a courtroom, and space for the county’s emergency management services on the site of the former county home just west of Mason City. The county has been facing an order by state regulators to shut down the current jail and annex at the county courthouse because it’s too small and overcrowded, leading to potentially dangerous situations. 60-percent of the voters needed to approve the measure for it to pass.
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