Courts discussion will hone in on two proposals

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County justices of the peace plan to take a closer look Thursday at two proposals for a new courts facility downtown.

A majority of the JPs, in a straw poll last month, said they preferred what's referred to as the "downtown alternative," in county documents. Information about the plan and a lease-to-purchase plan will be presented Thursday night, County Judge Barry Moehring said.

Meeting information

Benton County’s Quorum Court will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, and a special Finance Committee meeting will follow. The two meetings will be in the Quorum Court room on the third floor of the County Administration Building in downtown Bentonville.

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

The downtown alternative would use the three courtrooms in the Benton County Courthouse. The old jail area behind the courthouse would be demolished and replaced by a building with four courtrooms. The plan would cost less than $15 million.

Justice of the Peace Jerry Snow favors the downtown alternative, but he would also like to see the main courthouse refurbished.

"I think everybody is pretty much on board that we have to make something happen," he said. "I think the downtown alternative is a win-win all the way around."

The downtown alternative plan needs to be looked at as one phase of a bigger courts project, Moehring has said. It's not a 50-year solution such as a new courts facility would have been, but it would be a solution for at least 10 to 15 years, he said. The county also will need to deal with jail expansion in the coming years, he said.

Justice of the Peace Joel Edwards said the downtown alternative option has the potential for a longer lifespan if the county, in the future, used the three-story County Administration Building for courts, too. County offices could move to another location, he said. A connector, such as a sky bridge, could be built between the two buildings, he said.

In the downtown alternative plan the new building would have 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 more than 38,000 square feet for courts, Moehring said.

The courthouse is 28,080 square feet, said Bryan Beeson, county facilities manager. Circuit Judge Robin Green's courtroom is 1,813 square feet, Judge Xollie Duncan's court is 1,035 square feet and Judge John Scott's courtroom is 964 square feet.

Those three judges would stay in their courtrooms. Judges Doug Schrantz and Brad Karren, along with a new judge who will take office in 2021, would have courtrooms in the new building.

Two buildings now used for court -- the annex and a facility on Main Street -- would be sold, and the money would be used to construct the new building, according to the proposal.

The sale could net about $2 million, and the county could use $6 million from reserve. The Walton Family Foundation committed to donate $2 million if the courthouse is built downtown, Moehring said. The remaining money could be financed in short-term debt, he told the Finance Committee last month.

The county has a little more than $16 million in reserve, comptroller Brenda Guenther said.

A representative at the Walton Family Foundation confirmed the $2 million and a land donation are possible as long as a downtown option is being considered.

The lease-to-purchase option is something the Quorum Court needs more information 0n so justices of the peace can vet the concept better, Moehring said. The county would own the building after 25 years, according to the presentation Moehring gave to the Finance Committee last month.

"We have not gotten too far into this idea, but it's an interesting idea to explore," he said.

No one has offered to build a courts building downtown for the county to lease, and there are still questions such as who would the developer be, what are the leasing concepts and would a vote by residents be needed for the project, Moehring said.

Information Moehring presented to the Finance Committee last month showed the county would pay around $1.7 million in debt service for 23 years under that plan.

Edwards said he would like to see if lease-to-own could be used to pay for the downtown alternative plan. He'd like to leave some money in reserve for jail expansion.

"Jail expansion is going to happen sooner than any one of us want to think about," he said.

Moehring said the county needs to act soon because construction costs will go up and interest rates could rise. Also, he's not certain how long money from the Walton Foundation will be available.

NW News on 07/21/2019

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