BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace agreed Tuesday they want to choose from among the three locations being considered for a courts building.
The Public Safety Committee agreed more space is needed for the circuit judges, their courtrooms and related offices, but balked at a perception a recommendation for a single plan will be presented to them at the end of a process of three public workshops with information presented by consultants.
Public workshops
Benton County officials have scheduled three public workshops for discussion of a proposed courts building. The workshops are set for 6 p.m. Sept. 15, Oct. 4 and Nov. 30 in the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.
Source: Staff report
"I read it exactly the same way, here's the site and here's our recommendation," Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, said during the discussion. "I for one am not going to be boxed into that. That's not what we signed up for. This process is unfortunately headed for a place we didn't sign up for."
Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, said his experience in building projects is they don't end with a recommendation from architects.
"In what I do for a living, I let the architect present whatever they come up with and then I review that," Allen said. "Then I review that. I think we've got it backwards here. We're trying to tell them what to do on the front end. Just because they've spent the time, money and effort that doesn't mean we're going to approve it. I need to see something they've presented to me that I can say 'yes' or 'no' to."
The justices of the peace spent much of their time discussing whether they should recommend the project be sized around a certain number of courtrooms. Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 7 and committee chairman, said the number of courtrooms is the biggest single decision.
"The number of courtrooms decides 80 percent of the building space," Jones said. "The rest of who goes in there."
A motion to specify the Quorum Court's preference to have eight courtrooms in the building plans was defeated on a show of hands.
Shirley Sandlin, justice of the peace for District 8, cautioned the justices of the peace to avoid trying to get too involved in the details of the project.
"If we want to get too nit-picky, we can pick out the color of the paint, but I don't think we need to go there," Sandlin said.
A study in January 2014 identified three sites for a courts building -- two downtown and one on Southwest 14th Street near the jail.
County Judge Bob Clinard favors the Southwest 14th Street location. He points to the ease of construction away from downtown Bentonville and space for parking and expansion. A downtown site also will have to make some provisions to keep the courts operating during construction.
The committee endorsed a downtown building project early in 2015, and the Finance Committee explored financing options. Work on the proposal was delayed after the six circuit judges sent a letter to Clinard and the Quorum Court opposing both downtown plans as inadequate.
The letter -- citing concerns over security, access for the public and judicial system employees, parking and expansion -- prompted the decision to seek a consulting firm to help with the project. Perkowitz, Ruth & Cromwell, the consultants chosen, presented initial findings to the committee June 7.
Clinard has set up a work group made up of representatives of the circuit judges, prosecutor, public defender, circuit clerk, county clerk, Sheriff's Office and Quorum Court to help set the scope of work for the consultants. The work group will review the sites to develop criteria to be considered at each location.
Issues include the size of the building, traffic and parking, prisoner transportation needs and space for expansion of the building and parking areas. A building is needed to house five circuit courts in the downtown area, now housed in three buildings, and to allow room for growth, Clinard said. A new building should begin with room for at least eight courtrooms and associated offices, based on population estimates showing the county continuing to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future, Clinard said.
Clinard lost his bid for re-election to Moehring, who won the Republican Party nomination in the March primary. Moehring will face Ronnie L. Smith, the Libertarian Party candidate, and write-in candidate Jeff Broadston in the November general election.
Moehring raised several points about the planning process, saying he disagrees with some of the basic premises of the study, including the projected rate of increase in the number of judges and the idea of seeking a tax increase as a funding method. He also suggested the county needs to consider how technology will change the operation of courts in the future.
"We need to solve the problem that's in front of us." Moehring said. "If we overbuild I think we're making a big mistake."
NW News on 08/31/2016