WISCASSET – Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties are hiring a consultant to look into the possibility of building a 100-bed regional jail in Wiscasset.

The decision was made Tuesday at a rare joint meeting of the two county boards. If the counties can agree on how the jail would be governed, taxpayers from each county could be voting on a bond referendum by November.

Sagadahoc County is the only county in Maine without a jail, and its contract to house prisoners at the Kennebec County facility expires in February 2003. That agreement is unlikely to be renewed because the state Department of Corrections has threatened to cap the number of inmates there to reduce overcrowding.

“The sooner we know, the better,” said Charles Crosby, a Sagadahoc County commissioner. “There could be problems if this [decision] gets delayed. Sagadahoc is at a real crossroads. If it doesn’t come together in the next two to three months, then it’s over.”

Last year, each county hired New York-based Pulitzer-Bogard & Associates to conduct an independent jail needs assessment.

Sagadahoc County’s assessment was released this month. The firm found that the operating costs for a regional jail facility could be 25 percent to 30 percent lower than if each county were to operate its own jails.

“It will be far more cost-effective … to build and operate a single, combined facility of approximately 100 to 120 beds, than for each county to construct and operate their own facilities of half that size,” the assessment concluded.

Now, Curtiss Pulitzer and his firm will look at the costs of building a regional jail as well as the costs of building separate jails.

Pulitzer said he should know by May how much a regional jail will cost.

John O’Connell, a Lincoln County commissioner, said a study committee has identified a 50-acre parcel off Route 1 in Wiscasset as a possible site. The counties have not secured an option on the property.

The plan for managing the jail has not been developed, and there are no regional jails in Maine to serve as examples.

“That [jail governance] is the area where we’ll have to bring in the boxing gloves,” said Lincoln County Commissioner William Blodgett.