BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace leaned strongly toward keeping the courts downtown Monday, but no decision was made.
Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, said the county's history is at risk if the courts are moved. She pointed to the county fair shifting from downtown to a site out of town as an example.
"Once you take that away, it's gone," Anglin said. "Because of that, I will support the downtown plan. I call it the 'More for your money plan.'"
Kevin Harrison of District 5 said the court system is an integral part of the county seat and the main part of what people think of.
"The county seat is not a city, it's a location," Harrison said. "The people I've talked to, they see the courthouse as the home of the judicial system"
Tom Allen of District 4 said the county shouldn't lose the opportunity to preserve its past for future generations.
"We have an opportunity before us to preserve something that's very special to this county," Allen said. "We have an opportunity to preserve it for roughly the same amount of money. Why would we thrown that away?"
The Public Safety Committee committee set a meeting for 6 p.m. May 11 to continue the discussion.
The county has studied a new courts facility for the past few years. A 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 skywalk would connect the new building with the county courthouse.
The downtown project has an estimated budget of $31.2 million when renovation 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 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 using 113 spaces in the parking deck of the 21c Museum Hotel on days when the county is calling a jury pool to court.
An update on the county's ambulance service is slated to begin tonight's meeting. County officials briefed the justices of the peace on work to replace the service now provided by Springdale to nearby areas in southern Benton County. Springdale officials have given the county notice the city's Fire Department will cease serving areas outside the city as of Jan. 1, 2016.
Rural ambulance service in Benton County is provided by seven cities and the Northeast Benton County Fire Department's ambulance service. The county provides the cities with a subsidy to cover the cost of the service they extend beyond their city limits. The county has agreed to help NEBCO with some expenses.
The county secured a funding source for rural ambulance service last year when voters approved a county-wide millage levy of 0.2 mills to provide money for the service. The county has estimated the millage will bring in more than $800,000 while a voluntary EMS millage brought in about $250,000 last year. The county estimates rural ambulance service will cost about $1.2 million this year and next year.
NW News on 04/28/2015