Delta County Board of Commissioners Chair David Rivard thanked the county’s citizens for supporting the project in the November 2016 general election, when a millage proposal for the new correctional facility was approved.

“You’re the ones that made this happen,” he said.

Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald said Tuesday’s ceremony was the culmination of about 12 years of work towards establishing a new correctional facility in the county.

“This has been a long road to get to where we’re at today,” he said.

Jordan Beck | Daily Press A sign for the new Delta County Correctional Facility is seen at the construction site. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility took place Tuesday afternoon.

Current members of the Delta County Board of Commissioners, along with former board members Mary Harrington and John Malnar, were in attendance at the ceremony.

“It’s a great day for the citizens of Delta County,” Harrington said.

Representatives of Neenah, Wis.-based company Miron Construction — the construction ­manager for the project — were present at the ceremony, as well.

“It’s great to be here — we are extremely excited for the project,” Senior Project Manager Dave Barrow said.

County Manager Ryan Bergman said Miron has handled things well so far.

“It’s still on schedule, it’s still on budget, and we’re really hopeful that this can be a model public construction project,” he said.

Barrow thanked Kalamazoo-based firm Byce and Associates, which provided architectural and engineering services in the correctional facility’s design process. He also thanked the county’s staff for the work they have put into the project.

While the groundbreaking ceremony commemorated the start of construction of the new jail, Miron has been on site for the project for about two weeks. So far, the construction process for the jail has gone smoothly.

“We’re getting a good start on the project — taking advantage of the seasonable weather,” Barrow said.

Representatives of U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters also attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Jay Gage, a regional manager for Stabenow, said Stabenow’s and Peters’ offices worked together to help Delta County secure a $17.9 million guaranteed loan for the correctional facility project from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Rural Development’s Community Facilities Loan Program.

“We were happy to see that we were able to secure funds through … USDA Rural Development to see this project through,” he said.

USDA Rural Development Area Specialist James Yoder said he was happy to see this project get started.

“These are the nice days in the process,” he said.

Peters’ Upper Peninsula Regional Coordinator Katelyn Rader said Peters and Stabenow also work to ensure the funding continues to be available for other projects.

“We’re always fighting for funding in rural communities,” she said.