PINE BLUFF — Tonight’s Jefferson County Quorum Court session won’t be just another routine meeting for Jefferson County Sheriff Gerald Robinson.
Quorum Court members are expected to appropriate more than $1.7 million toward construction of a new sheriff’s office complex in Pine Bluff.
Last week, the Quorum Court’s Public Safety/ Emergency Services and Finance committees unanimously recommended that the full governing body pass the appropriation.
For Robinson, the money will help realize a decades long dream.
“I thank the Quorum Court for this,” Robinson said last week. “I have been promising this to my employees for so long now, and we have been talking about a new building during my 20 years at the sheriff’s office. It’s a dream come true to actually see this happen.”
The new two-story sheriff’s office - to be attached to the W.C. “Dub” Brassel Jail and court complex a few blocks from the heart of downtown - will cost more than $3 million.
The county has agreed to fund up to $2.5 million of the total construction bill, Justice of the Peace Ted Harden said.
Appropriations beyond the$1.7 million are expected later this year, he said.
Tonight’s funding ordinance calls for transferring a bulk of the money - just more than $1 million - from the Detention Facilities Reserve Fund, along with $100,000 from the proceeds of the sale of the former county jail building; $150,000 from mortgage revenue bonds; $25,000 from the Jefferson County Escrow Fund; $133,000 from the Jail Operations Fund;and $263,000 from the Detention Facilities Maintenance and Operation Fund.
The county’s contribution won’t be enough to complete the building, but it will allow a majority of the sheriff’s office, including the patrol and criminal investigation divisions, to move in once phase one is complete in about 10 months, Robinson said.
The interior of the facility’s second floor won’t be finished until the remaining money is secured through forfeiture funds and private donations, the sheriff noted.
Jefferson County Judge Mike Holcomb has agreed to offer inkind labor on such projects as landscaping.
Holcomb was out of the office last week and unavailable for comment.
Putting his department under one roof will improve efficiency and public service, Robinson said.
The sheriff’s office is currently divided among three cramped downtown buildings - the Jefferson County Courthouse, where administrative offices are housed; and two aging structures across the street, one housing the criminal investigation division and the other the patrol division.
In recent months, ceiling tiles have fallen in both of the older buildings, and Robinson considers the structures unfit for his employees.
“It’s just to the point now where we aren’t going to be able to stay in our current location,”said Robinson, who is serving his third term as sheriff.
“Something had to be done, and I am thrilled that the Quorum Court is supporting us with a new building.”
Justice of the Peace Mandy Alford said during last week’s committee meetings that she was pleased the Quorum Court had decided to build the new sheriff’s office next to the Brassel building.
In order to save costs, some justices had suggested moving the sheriff’s office into an existing building and retrofitting it.
“I’m glad that didn’t happen,” Alford said. “The sheriff’s office needs to be next to the jail.”
Harden said the cost of renovating an existing building wouldn’t have been any cheaper than constructing a new one.
“I think we would have come out about the same,” he said, “and this way, we have a new building.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/13/2012