Courts design work gets Benton County Committee of the Whole backing

The Benton County Courthouse is shown, Thursday, February 28, 2019 in downtown Bentonville.
The Benton County Courthouse is shown, Thursday, February 28, 2019 in downtown Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Design work for a proposed downtown courthouse and another pod at the jail moved forward Tuesday night.

Benton County's Committee of the Whole backed spending $55,000 for the design work for the projects. The items now go to Quorum Court on Aug. 29 for approval.

The "downtown alternative," as it's called in county documents, is the plan under consideration for a new courts building.

Residents voted down a one-eighth percent sales tax increase March 12 to pay to build an 87,000-square-foot, $30 million courthouse on Northeast Second Street. The tax would have been for 54 months.

Justice of the Peace Brent Meyers asked if there was any appetite to put the original proposal back on the ballot, but there was some pushback from committee members.

"I am past that," Justice of the Peace Tom Allen told the committee. "I've moved on."

Justice of the Peace Mike McKenzie also said he was against putting the original measure back on the ballot. He called the downtown alternative the best plan he had seen so far.

The new plan would use the three courtrooms in the 28,080-square-foot courthouse. The former jail area behind the courthouse would be demolished and replaced by a building with four courtrooms. The plan would cost less than $15 million, County Judge Barry Moehring said.

Drawings show a detention area and Circuit Clerk's Office on the first floor and two 1,700-square-foot courtrooms each on two other floors. The proposal would add 35,000 to 40,000 square feet for courts, Moehring said.

Meyers said he wasn't against the downtown alternative. He also asked when the design work would be completed. Moehring said it could happen within 60 days after Quorum Court approval.

The jail pod design would replicate H pod, Moehring said. That 17,858 square-foot pod holds about 140 female inmates, Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert said. The new pod, if approved by justices of the peace, would hold misdemeanor prisoners, he said. A kitchen also would be part of the project.

The maximum number of inmates the jail can hold is 669, but that doesn't mean every bed is occupied. Some must remain empty. One inmate may be held in a two-person cell for his own protection or for disciplinary reasons, Maj. Kenneth Paul said. There were 673 inmates in the jail Tuesday, Paul said.

The committee also approved spending $34,000 to retrofit a tower for the new radio system and discussed changes to the travel policy. Both items were moved on to the Quorum Court.

The committee also heard from Sheriff Shawn Holloway about two recent incidents involving his office. Justice of the Peace Carrie Perrien Smith earlier this month asked the Sheriff's Office to provide an update.

Lt. Randall McElroy was fired July 15 after an internal investigation, according to Sheriff's Office records. Women working in the jail accused McElroy of sexual harassment, which included sending text messages to various employees requesting topless photographs.

Two of the women reported McElroy sexually assaulted them, according to the report from an internal investigation.

The incident was dealt with 24 hours after it was brought to their attention, Holloway said.

"It was not a culture, it was one person," he told the court. "We will not put up with that type of behavior."

Prosecutor Nathan Smith said Holloway hadn't referred anything related to the internal investigation to his office.

A deputy involved shooting that killed a Lowell man Aug. 5 also briefly was discussed.

Deputies were called to 14689 Frisco Springs Road in Lowell for an attempted suicide, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. Shots were fired by deputies during the investigation and Derrick Davidson, 56, was killed, according to the release. One deputy was placed on administrative leave, according to the release.

The Arkansas State Police is investigating the shooting. Holloway said he couldn't comment further since the matter is still under review.

NW News on 08/21/2019

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