Benton County officials eye courts building

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials will resume discussion of a new courts building tonight with a plan for a downtown Bentonville complex on the agenda.

The Public Safety Committee will consider the plan to keep the county's circuit courts and related offices downtown. Committee members already heard a presentation for a new courts building on county-owned land near the County Jail and Road Department on Southwest 14th Street.

Court costs

Benton County’s Finance Committee will discuss possible funding methods for a new county courts building when the committee meets at 6 p.m. May 7 in the Quorum Courtroom of the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville. County Judge Bob Clinard said possible funding options include a countywide sales tax and a countywide property tax increase, with both tax proposals including a sunset provision. The county also will consider a bond issue and private financing options for the building project, he said. A tax increase or bond issue would require voter approval.

Source: Staff report

The committee will meet at 6 p.m. in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave.

County Judge Bob Clinard, who supports the relocation of the circuit courts and other offices to the Southwest 14th Street site, hopes the justices of the peace can complete their review of the two plans and be ready to move on with the plan he favors. He plans to ask the Public Safety Committee to send his recommendation to the Finance Committee to begin work on a funding plan, perhaps as early as next month.

"There's not a whole lot more I can say about the new facility," Clinard said. "I think it's in the right place at the right time for the county. It meets the needs for parking, security, expandability and constructability. That's not an argument. With the old downtown courthouse you have the difficulty of building a new building while the old courthouse in in operation. You have the difficulty of restoring the old courthouse while it's in use. You're looking at building a $20 million facility adjacent to an existing building, Judge Karren's court, that we're still going to be using. It will take away our parking and be extremely difficult and disruptive to everything that's going on and it's not necessary."

The county has studied a new courts facility for the past few years. A feasibility study identified locations downtown and on Southwest 14th Street.

The plan for the Southwest 14th Street location includes a three-story building with 100,000 square feet of space for six courtrooms, six circuit judges and their staffs, offices for the prosecuting attorney and public defender and other county offices.

The plan allows for expansion to provide another 50,000 square feet of office space. The plan has 475 public parking spaces, with another 72 secure parking spaces. The plan shows room to add parking as needed if the building is expanded. The plan has an estimated budget of $24 million.

The plan for downtown Bentonville calls for a four-story building on Second Street with space for five courtrooms and related offices and shell space for two courtrooms to be built in the future. A sky walk would connect the new building with the existing county courthouse.

The downtown project has an estimated budget $31.2 million when renovations to courthouse and the courts annex are included. Construction costs for the downtown project is about $24 million.

The Walton Family Foundation, which favors the downtown option, has provided the county with a $2.8 million grant to begin renovation of the historic courthouse and has offered another $2 million for renovation work if the courts are kept downtown. The foundation also has offered to reimburse the county for the cost of land acquisition for the Second Street building site.

The downtown plan estimates the project would add 101 spaces within a one-block radius of the courthouse. The plan shows about 600 spaces available within a one-block radius of the courts facilities. The plan also proposes to make use of 113 spaces in the parking deck of the 21c Museum Hotel on days when the county is calling a jury pool to court.

Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 7 and chairman of the committee, said the committee will listen to representatives from Downtown Bentonville Inc., which favors the downtown plan, at tonight's meeting before the justices of the peace begin to compare the two plans.

"We need to have good discussion on the two plans," Jones said. "It's possible we might be done (tonight). It depends on how deep in the weeds we get on the details of the plans. Right now, we've got conceptual drawings, not detailed plans. We have to consider how they meet the needs of the county right now and down the road."

Jones isn't sure the panel will complete its discussion in a single meeting.

"The JPs may have a lot of questions they want answered," he said. "It might happen after two meeting or it could be several meetings."

Jones couldn't say how the committee might respond to Clinard's request to forward his plan on for consideration.

"The judge can say 'This is my plan and I'd like it forwarded on to Finance.'" Jones said. "We need to still have the full discussion."

At least one justice of the peace has been vocal in supporting the downtown plan.

Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, said he would vote to keep the courts downtown if given the choice. Moehring said there are "hidden costs" in the Southwest 14th Street plan, including the renovation of the old courthouse and the relocation of many county offices after the courts are moved away from downtown. He would like to see those costs included in the proposal the Quorum Court is asked to consider. The downtown option also has additional benefits to the community, he said.

"Both proposals would be a tremendous improvement over what we have now," Moehring said. "Both provide ample space for the courts right now and expansion space for the future. Both provide for enhanced security and more parking. But when you start to look at the economic impact on downtown Bentonville, to look at the quality-of-life issues, and consider the total cost, I think the downtown option is the best."

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee, acknowledges Clinard's responsibility for county facilities, but said the justices of the peace can't just promise financial support without giving all the options their consideration.

"When an elected official asks us for money we don't just say 'Yes, we have it so you can spend it,"' Allen said. "We have to look at what they want to spend it on and how it impacts the county's finances. It's not always black and white."

The justices of the peace may have to weigh more than just the cost, Allen said.

"At the end of the day money is going to be an issue," he said. "If it comes down to where one is significantly cheaper than the other we'll have to look at that. If it comes down to where they're fairly close we may want to look at other factors."

An update on the county's ambulance service is slated to begin tonight's meeting. County officials will brief the panel on work to replace the service now provided by Springdale. Springdale officials have given the county notice it will cease serving areas outside the city as of Jan. 1, 2016.

NW News on 04/27/2015

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