With the ACLU’s threat of a lawsuit against Monroe County looming, city and county officials met Thursday in hopes of expediting construction of a new jail.

At the outset of the meeting, Mayor Kerry Thomson noted that it’s the county’s responsibility to run the jail and build the new jail.

"Obviously the jail impacts our entire community," Thomson said. "So while the mayor does not, per se, have oversight over the jail, nor does the city council, this is something that impacts our entire community."

It has been 17 years since a lawsuit by the ACLU forced the county to improve jail conditions. The ACLU stopped extending deadlines last month after the county rejected a site for a new jail.

The group that met Thursday created a subcommittee to take one month to recommend a jail site. The meetings will be open to the public.

Others invited to join the subcommittee include the mayor, the sheriff, the prosecutor’s office, and the public defender’s office.