Time for county to argue their case for a new justice center

All systems are go for a November referendum on a new Johnson County Justice Center.

County supervisors voted 5-0 last week to approve ballot language that asks voters to approve a bond issue of up to

$46.8 million to fund the $48.1 million project. They set the Nov. 6 election date. Now it's time for them to get serious about making their case.

The justice center vote has been a long time coming: It's been more than a decade since voters last nixed the idea of building a new jail. We've been listening for years to scrapped plans and sometimes heated discussions about how to pay for it, how much to build, and where and when.

Add to that the problems with the current courthouse. The 111-year-old building is crowded and unsecure, without adequate room to keep separate defendants, witnesses and jurors. There's no metal detector at the entrance. There's little room to store files on site and little space for attorneys to meet with their clients.

Architects finally unveiled earlier this spring a design that takes everything into account: 153,800-square-feet of space, including six new courtrooms, 243 jail bed, much-needed support space and room to grow. The expansion would be built into the hill behind the existing historic courthouse and connected to it by a secure bridge.

But the question on voters' minds won't be whether or not the new building is functional, but whether or not it's a good use of their hard-earned money.

The answer is yes.

When they were asked to foot the bill for a bigger jail more than a decade ago, Johnson County residents asked some good questions. Can't we just lock up fewer people, they asked. Do more to keep them out of jail in the first place? Make do with what we have?

For more than 10 years, the Sheriff's Office has been collecting data and addressing those concerns, and the answer is the same: The current jail, built for 46 and currently holding closer to 100 inmates, is woefully inadequate.

Despite all the efforts to reduce populations, the county now houses more inmates off-site than it does inside its own cells.

Still, there are some who will answer “try harder” - who aren't yet convinced of the need.

Meanwhile, every year the courthouse gets more crowded, the cost to house inmates in other counties increases. Every year, construction costs continue to grow.

Building a justice center will be expensive, but it's simply got to be done.

County officials better start explaining that to voters well before they head to the polls.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net