BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials still have differing views on how to meet the county’s needs for additional space for the judicial system.
The county has worked on plans for a new courts building for the past few years. A study in January 2014 identified three sites — two downtown and one on county property on Southwest 14th Street near the jail and Road Department. County Judge Bob Clinard favors the Southwest 14th Street location. The Quorum Court’s Public Safety Committee endorsed a downtown building project earlier this year, and the Finance Committee has been exploring financing options for a downtown building.
Justices of the peace Tom Allen and Barry Moehring have questioned the size and scope of the project at recent meetings called to discuss the county’s 2016 budget and suggested the county may need to consider doing a smaller project. Both said they also question the chance of persuading county voters to support a tax increase to finance the project.
“I don’t think we should stop anything we’re doing right now,” Allen said of the courts project.” But if we pursue the course we’re on, and it went to an election and the voters didn’t approve it, then you have to fall back and readjust. The downside is that you’re losing that year when you could have been drawing up plans. The question I’m asking myself is ‘Is it the right thing to do?’ If we can find a way to do this without asking for a tax increase shouldn’t we be doing that?”
Moehring shares Allen’s reservations about the success of any tax increase proposal, and said the county needs to reconsider the entire project.
“We need to change the debate,” Moehring said. “We need to focus a lot more on what we can afford and how we can pay for it. We’ve got to look at options that don’t include a tax increase.”
Moehring said the county needs to look at ways to reduce the need for new building space. He said “re-purposing” the existing courts facilities downtown has be to be part of the plan, along with ideas like better case management systems and “collegial courtrooms” programs that could help the county more efficiently use the existing space and any new space being proposed.
Clinard said he won’t support any plan that leaves the county with the same problems it faces now of inadequate space for the courts systems.
“Everybody’s who’s looked at it has agreed we need a new courts facility,” Clinard said. “Now the Quorum Court is talking about scaling it back and doing it without a tax increase.”
AVOID ‘PATCHWORK’
Clinard said the county should approach the project planning to spend at least $10 million from the $13 million it has in unrestricted reserves. The county will still have $7 million in a separate reserve fund for emergencies as required by state law. He said the county could look at other financing options if a tax proposal is not approved, but the project has to meet the needs of the county now and in the future.
“I cannot support something that’s patchwork, inefficient and that leaves us in the same spot we’re in now just five years down the road,” he said. “We need to commit to doing the right thing now, at the lowest long-term price, which is why I’ve emphasized we need a site to be able to expand as needed. This is a 60-year or 80-year project. That’s our first goal and that’s the way we should go at it.”
Kurt Moore, justice of the peace, said he’s less concerned than Allen and Moehring about getting a tax proposal approved. Moore said the biggest issue is the county’s credibility with voters.
“I think the real issue is whether we can convince them that [a tax] will go away when we say it will, rather than being re-dedicated,” Moore said. “I think it will all hinge on our credibility.”
Moore said if the county decides the project needs to be scaled down initially, with expansion being left to deal with later, that weakens the arguments for the downtown locations and makes the 14th Street location the better choice.
“I still think that’s the best place to put it,” Moore said of the 14th Street site. “But one of the arguments for downtown was that the downtown Bentonville interests would commit to supporting a substantial campaign for the funding plan. If you’re not going to go for a tax increase, that eliminates that argument for downtown.”
CIRCUIT JUDGES’ OBJECTION
Work on the proposed courts building was delayed after the county’s six circuit judges submitted a letter to Clinard and the Quorum Court in September opposing both downtown plans that have been proposed and the downtown building site as inadequate to meet the county’s needs. The letter, signed by circuit judges Robin Green, Brad Karren, Thomas
E. Smith, John R. Scott, Xollie Duncan and Doug Schrantz, cited concerns over security, access for the public and judicial system employees, parking and future expansion. The questions raised by the judges prompted the county to seek a consulting firm for the project.
Clinard has proposed a new courts building on county-owned land near the jail and Road Department on Southwest 14th Street. That four-story building would have about 100,000 square feet of space with six new courtrooms and offices space for the judges and their staffs, the prosecuting attorney and public defender, circuit clerk and all other related offices. The building would have 480 dedicated parking spaces initially with room for expansion on the site. Clinard has estimated the net cost to the county at $26.7 million.
The justices of the peace have been discussing two plans proposed for a courts building on Second Street in downtown Bentonville. Clinard developed a plan for a four-story building with 125,000 square feet of space and six courtrooms and an estimated cost of $28.7 million, including the sale of the three county buildings and possibly another $4.9 million in grant money from the Walton Family Foundation.
The second downtown option, labeled the G-2 plan, has been put forward by downtown business interests and the Walton Family Foundation.
Courthouse consultant
Benton County officials will begin interviewing representatives of 10 architectural firms next week to find a consultant for a planned new courts building. The county advertised its request for qualifications nationally and the response period closed Nov.
- County Judge Bob Clinard said he has set aside time next week to do the interviews and select three finalists. The following week those three firms will be asked to do a second round of interviews. Clinard said he plans to make a final choice by the week of Dec. 14.
Source: Staff report
Tom Sissom can be reached by email at tsissom@nwadg.com or on Twitter at NWATom.