Johnson County leaders plan next move after referendum fails

JOHNSON COUNTY - The third time was not the charm. And Johnson County leaders are again left wondering what again they must do to reverse their fortunes in the effort to address safety and security concerns at the Johnson County Courthouse.

A bond to fund a $33.4 million courthouse expansion - proposed to address safety, security and space issues at the 113-year-old courthouse - got 56.9 percent of the vote on Tuesday, short of the 60 percent supermajority needed. On Wednesday, county leaders were already back to the drawing board, with a Board of Supervisors work session and criminal justice coordinating committee meeting taking place. The task at hand: how to move forward after another bond referendum failure.

Bond measures for a justice center that would have addressed issues at the overcrowded Johnson County Jail failed in 2012 and 2013.

Board of Supervisors member Rod Sullivan said there was no 'Plan B” if the bond measure failed.

'Honestly, we didn't have one,” he said. 'I guess Plan B starts today.”

Sullivan and fellow board members Janelle Rettig and Terrence Neuzil all voiced a commitment to doing something to address issues at the courthouse when reached for comment Wednesday. The courthouse has no secured entrance, only one ADA compliant entrance and no measures to separate inmates appearing for court dates from the general public.

'I guess my only thought is doing nothing isn't an option,” Rettig said. 'We will have to go back to the drawing board and come up with another plan ... If we don't do that, we're failing in our leadership to provide safe and secure space for the county.”

Neuzil said the courthouse requires 'some serious triage” to address safety and security concerns. He believes that means upgrading the existing building in such a way to have a secured entrance, meeting ADA standards and separating inmates and the general public.

'What can we do with the existing building to make it safe and secure and to identify how we can at least put an entranceway in that facility?” he said.

One potential option is creating a secure entrance on the south side of the building, something both Neuzil and Sullivan proposed. A window in the current break room was formerly a door and could be reverted to an entrance, Sullivan said. From there, metal detectors and a temporary, tent-like structure could be erected to house and protect metal detectors.

Sullivan also said the county could start building a new structure with its own funds.

'Maybe you build the building over the course of 10 years,” he said. 'Put in a foundation and just keep adding stuff over the course of 10 years. That would be really inefficient, but maybe that's what you have to do.”

Neuzil said triage work on the current courthouse will likely be expensive and 'come on the backs of everyone else's budgets.”

'Money's got to come from somewhere to make the place safe and secure,” Neuzil said.

Another option is a reverse bond referendum, which the board used to fund improvements to the county's Health and Human Services Building. In that scenario, the board approves a bond and leaves it to the public to petition and oppose it. However, Neuzil said the board expects opposition, and that tactic is usually used with smaller projects.

'There are other options, but really, it comes down to cost,” Neuzil said. 'Nonetheless, just to do some triage still is going to be an expensive proposition. I don't think people are going to accept the idea that we just do nothing.”