Washington County tackles renovation, construction projects

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Work by JT Handyman continues Friday on the fifth floor of the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville. The fifth floor is being remodeled to house a courtroom.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Work by JT Handyman continues Friday on the fifth floor of the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville. The fifth floor is being remodeled to house a courtroom.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County Judge Joseph Wood is moving forward with renovation and construction projects.

Wood oversees and controls county buildings and grounds. The Quorum Court oversees the county's $68 million budget.

Several construction projects and the development of a long-term facilities plan are underway, causing at least one justice of the peace to worry about where the money for the projects is coming from.

Wood, a Republican, is running for re-election against former Rep. Jim House, a Democrat, in the November election.

So far this year, the county judge has spent about $250,000 budgeted for professional services in the Building and Grounds Department, according to the Treasurer's Office. The total budget for professional services is $309,395. The county judge's department also has spent $78,000 of its $135,000 budget for material and supplies.

Those numbers don't give a full picture of the new construction and renovation projects happening in Washington County because the numbers aren't broken down by project, Treasurer Bobby Hill said.

Money can be transferred within elected officials' budgets, but line-item transfers are capped at $20,000 or 4 percent of a department's budget per single transfer. It also can't exceed 12 percent of the operating budget annually, according to county policy.

Anything above those thresholds requires Quorum Court approval, Hill said.

Questions emailed Thursday to Wood, County Attorney Brian Lester, Chief of Staff Carl Gales and Building and Grounds Department Director Dwight Gonzales weren't answered.

Lester said Gales was out of the office until next week.

Gales has said officials want to develop a five-year plan that looks at property uses. The county recently requested quotes from firms interested in creating a study on the county's properties, according to online records posted under Bids & Proposals.

On Friday, crews were renovating the fifth floor of the courthouse for a new courtroom. Work is also underway at the courthouse annex at the corner of College Avenue and Spring Street for the new crisis stabilization unit for about $175,000, Gales said previously.

The 16-bed, state-funded unit is meant to handle people who are in a mental health crisis and divert them from jails.

The projects won't require the Quorum Court to put more money into the judge's budget, Gales told justices of the peace in June. The county judge has postponed at least one project to afford immediately needed projects, Gales said. He didn't say what project was postponed.

Gales said money for the projects is available within the Building and Grounds Department's budget.

Justice of the Peace Eva Madison, a Democrat representing northeastern Fayetteville, said she's worried about what is being postponed, whether the county judge has unnecessary money in his budget and whether the county will end up spending more next year to catch up with postponed projects.

"How do you have $175,000 slack in a budget? That's not acceptable," Madison said Thursday. "If it's another project that's been postponed that means we're going to have to pay for it next year."

The Quorum Court soon will begin grappling with the 2019 budget. This year's budget had a $5 million gap between the amount of expected revenue and budgeted expenses, according to county records.

Justice of the Peace Harvey Bowman, a Republican representing northern Springdale, said he was pleased with Wood's work because the judge is able to renovate and provide more county services without asking the Quorum Court for additional money.

"We have a ton of really great stuff going on down there, and they are done within the budget," Bowman said. "In previous years, nothing like that would happen without a request for more money."

More property may become available soon if the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences allows the county to take back unused land and buildings on its Fayetteville campus. Negotiation for that property is under way, Wood said previously.

Options for using the property could include more services for veterans, Bowman said. The county also could be renovated and leased, officials have said. That's already been done at the county-owned armory building, which was leased to a nonprofit group this year.

Other large-scale projects are in the planning phases.

A three-phase architectural plan to expand the juvenile detention center building, including adding a courtroom, was finished in May. The first part of the project, which includes expanding the lobby area, is expected to start this year, Circuit Court Judge Stacey Zimmerman said.

NW News on 08/06/2018

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