Taxpayers in Benton County are now officially on a journey to answer the question of whether to build a centralized courts building and where it should be.
The Benton County Quorum Court agreed Thursday evening to spend $65,000 for the study, but half of the money will come from several downtown Bentonville interests. Those, to a letter signed by Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin, includes the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Bentonville Inc.
The study will pros cons of a courts complex on county property on Southwest 14th Street or keeping them in downtown Bentonville.
County Judge Bob Clinard has made the project a major component of his leadership. He declares the old courthouse, built in 1928, as obsolete in terms of its capacity to handle the judicial demands of modern Benton County. Things have changed a little around these parts since 1928.
Few can argue with the sensibility of consolidating the courts. The juvenile court is housed on its own in the Juvenile Justice Center, where its charges are housed. Beyond that, however, Benton County’s judicial system is scattered with three judges in the old courthouse, one in a judicial annex and one in another building on Central Avenue across from the courthouse.
All of the courtrooms are connected by the work of the Benton County Circuit Clerk, who is responsible for all case fi lings, record-keeping, assigning cases to judges, calling jurors and other duties related to the administration of justice.
Without question, serving judges in multiple locations can be a complicated affair, but it’s done in other counties. Some of those counties can only dream of a courts complex, but Benton County has some money tucked away. Nobody has decided how to pay for a new courts building, but some believe the county can afford it.
Few, if any, argue the consolidated system would be a benefit, operationally and in terms of security for the public and for the prisoners whose cases are heard those courtrooms.
The question of location, however, remains.
Hight-Jackson Associates will do the study in conjunction with Chang-Ming Yeh, a consultant with the National Center for State Courts in Denver. After that, it will be up to the politickin’ to determine what happens. Regardless of how the study comes down on the issue, we suspect both options - a complex near the county jail and one in downtown Bentonville - will have their advocates.
The truth is the dollars and cents of it is probably the bigger issue, as either choice has its merit. We’re always favorable to county and city government maintaining a strong presence in the downtown areas of county seats. Their presence - including courtrooms - has been a mainstay of healthy downtowns, but Bentonville’s square has become a centerpoint of activity, some of which can noisily interfere with the serious administration of justice, which can involve loss of liberty and, occasionally, a potential death sentence.
There’s value, too, in putting the courts near where the inmates are, making transportation of sometimes dangerous criminals far simpler and safer.
With this study, the Quorum Court should get a wealth of information upon which they can base a decision. We encourage them to act decisively with an eye toward creating a judicial environment that matches the desired sanctity of the proceedings contained therein.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 05/29/2013