It’s road trip time again for county officials in the quest to gauge sites for a new jail — this time, it’s a proposed multifunction jail under construction in Mendenhall.

On Thursday, three members of the county’s jail committee will tour construction work on a Simpson County jail, said District 1 Supervisor David McDonald, who represents supervisors on the panel of judges, clerks and others who work closely with the legal system.

McDonald, Circuit Court Judge Jim Chaney and Central District Justice Court Judge James Jefferson will make the trip, McDonald said.

In January 2010, McDonald and sheriff’s department officials visited jails in Kentucky and Indiana as part of a comprehensive study completed three months later. At least one more trip is planned this year, to the Caddo Parish jail in Shreveport, McDonald said.

Planned to open in 2012, the $8.6 million Simpson County facility will accommodate 150 beds for county inmates and an additional 50 beds for state prisoners, with a sheriff’s department office and justice courtroom inside it. The architect and builder is Jackson-based Benchmark Construction.

McDonald said he has talked with the firm about available places to build a jail in Warren County — a topic for which supervisors accepted eight proposals in May and a ninth after a May 15 deadline. McDonald, a three-term supervisor seeking re-election in November, has favored openly building inside the county-owned “spec building” at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex. On Monday, he said he still favors building there to save the added cost of purchasing land, but admitted the site’s distance from the courthouse is a drawback. McDonald also favors having one entity design and build the jail.

“With architect fees around 8 to 12 percent,” McDonald said, “you could save a couple million dollars.”

Meanwhile, engineers are studying potential jail sites from those who responded to a request for proposals, County Administrator John Smith said.

The board sought 15-acre or larger parcels within a reasonable distance from major transportation routes and utilities.

Details on each proposal opened by a separate, five-person committee showed some offered up to three parcels as large as 200 acres. McDonald said some could be “kicked out automatically” because of one-way in, one-way out access or if the elevation varied too greatly.

About 200 acres off Fisher Ferry Road offered by the City of Vicksburg was once eyed as a sports complex. Property available for development “has sufficient surrounding land to act as a buffer to screen the building if so desired by the county, it says.

Additional proposals, with size and locations, were:

• A 195-acre tract off Fisher Ferry and Halls Ferry Road, proposed by Rice Realty Group Inc.

• Three parcels off Berryman Road, ranging from eight to 60 acres, proposed by Jerry Beard.

• A 47.8-acre parcel off U.S. 80 behind the former Pinewood motel, proposed by Gay M. Strong.

• Land on each side of Alcorn Drive, totaling 33 to 40 acres, proposed by TellPark LLC and Nogales Properties LLC. The offer was sent in after the deadline, but is still being considered along with others.

• A 30- to 32-acre site across from Vicksburg National Military Park, south of Clay Street, proposed by Melborn Estates LLC.

• A 29-acre tract on the west side of Mississippi 27, proposed by Highway 27 Development LLC.

• A 28-acre tract at the end of Vinson Road, off Standard Hill Road, proposed by attorney Bill Bost on behalf of J.R. Curry.

• About 18 acres off Manor Drive and Bazinsky Road, proposed by real estate broker John Arnold, who opposes McDonald in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the Distrct 1 seat.