Building dedicated to training prison employees coming to ACM

CUMBERLAND — The Allegany County Commission has agreed to fund the construction of a new building on the Allegany College of Maryland campus that will be dedicated to training employees of Western and North Branch correctional institutions.

"The college would pay the money back over the next seven years, so (the commission) is really just fronting the money," said Rebecca Ruppert, the college's director of professional development.

The estimated $600,000 needed to build a 5,000-square-foot structure will be loaned to the college under the conditions that ACM lease the building and reimburse the county.

Construction is set to begin in fall 2018 and the building will be located near the Continuing Education Building. 

Once completed, about 1,200 employees from the maximum security state prisons, located near Cresaptown, will train there.

County Finance Director Jason Bennett called the agreement a "win-win."

"... (W)e put dollars up front and we end up getting those dollars back," he said. "It's kind of a perfect fit. It usually doesn't work out this well or this easy."

According to ACM officials, the college has partnered with both WCI and NBCI for nearly 20 years. Known as the Western Regional Correctional Training Academy, correctional employees from both prisons utilize space in the basement of the college technology building.

But due to state funding regulations associated with renovations to the technology building that are currently underway, the correctional academy program will need to move elsewhere, said Christina Kilduff, ACM's vice president of finance and administration. 

"So basically, that means we have to move the WCI program out of that building," she said.

The ACM Technology Building was constructed in 1975 and the renovations are long overdue, officials said.

According to Kilduff, ACM's partnership with the prisons is significant, with the number of hours each correctional officer trains calculating into the college's overall state funding.

"... (W)hile we don't get direct funding for that, it goes into the key formula funding that ACM gets from the state," Kilduff said. "It's probably about $200,000 a year that we get from that, so it's a significant partnership."

Follow staff writer Heather Wolford on Twitter @heatherbwolford.