Commissioners decide to include judicial center in designs for new justice campus
The Dubois County Commissioners voted to include the judicial center in the architectural plans of the new justice campus that will be built on Brucke Strasse in Jasper.
The three commissioners agreed that the new building designed to house two courts, the clerk’s office, probation, prosecuting attorney’s office, and other offices supporting the judicial needs of the county is a necessary addition as the county continues to grow.
In 2017, a study conducted by the National Institute of Corrections revealed the jail was poorly designed and was considered obsolete the year it opened. This is mainly due to the linear design — the study described the jail as being build similar to a school — and the lack of space for rehabilitative programming. Additionally, the jail is regularly out of compliance for its rated occupancy.
Prior to this year, the jail was regularly cited in inspections by the Department of Justice for being overcrowded.
Additionally, community corrections is also feeling the effects of a changing jail population and a lack of space for programs and occupants.
In 2019, the county council passed an income tax increase of 0.2 percent through a Corrections and Rehabilitation (C&R) Tax to fund the updates to the jail and community corrections. This C&R Tax is mandated by the state to only be used for improvements in the county’s corrections and rehabilitation programs and facilities.
The tax is in place for 20 years and will pay for the expanded jail and community corrections and some portion of the justice center. Over the 20 years, the tax is being projected to bring in at least $42 million; enough to cover the costs of the new justice campus. At the current time, about $1.7 million has been collected through the tax.
The commissioners and council agreed to add the judicial center to the campus and, prior to the pandemic, had agreed to fund the portions of the judicial center not covered by the C&R tax.
After the pandemic hit and the shutdown occurred, the county backed away from funding the judicial center through its local option income tax funds and rainy day funds in anticipation of a loss of revenue. While a 20 percent loss was originally forecast, that number has since been adjusted as the impact has been somewhat mitigated locally.
According to Commissioner Chad Blessinger, the county’s financial advisor, Baker Tilly, has run new projections with modified moderate revenue losses for the first two years after 2020 — 10 percent and 5 percent respectfully — and then flatlined revenue for the remainder of the life of the C&R tax to come up with the estimated $42 million income. He pointed out this flatlined growth meant the county would have no new jobs, no increase in population and no increase in wages for that 17 years.
“Historically, that’s not ever been the case but that is how we are projecting it just to be as conservative as possible,” Blessinger pointed out at Monday’s meeting.
During the meeting, the commissioners heard some comments from the public.
Maureen Braun, the owner of Finishing Touches on Main Street, told the commissioners she supported having the courts moved to the justice campus. She mentioned there had been several times when prisoners being transported to the courthouse had escaped in the area. She added that the additional vehicles around the courthouse were also a safety concern as plans were being developed for updates to the downtown to make it more walkable and attractive as a city center.
Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide agreed that the courts being moved to the justice campus would increase the safety for the public as well as the sheriff’s deputies charged with prisoner transports and security. He added that with the planned improvements being considered for the downtown with regards to creating an attractive area of businesses, restaurants and entertainment, he did not think the continued use of the courts in the downtown facilitated a safe environment for visitors and the type of growth they were seeking.
In a letter to the commissioners, Vonderheide said he supported the plans proposed by the commissioners as long as there was a plan for funding the project and then filling the vacated space in the courthouse.
In opposition, Attorney Grant Swartzentruber appeared on behalf of Judge William Weikert who was unable to attend in person due to being under a self-imposed quarantine. According to the letter Swartzentruber read from the judge, Weikert is still opposed to the courts being moved as well as the expansion of the jail. In his letter, he pointed out that the jail population has remained within its certified capacity this year. He also explained that with the economic impact of the pandemic still being felt by residents, the commissioners and council should place a moratorium on the C&R tax and hold off on building the jail.
While Blessinger did not address the moratorium on the tax, he pointed out that with annual inflation, it would never be less expensive to build the jail which is in a large part why they plan on moving forward sooner rather than later. In addressing the judge’s comment about the number of prisoners in the jail this year, Blessinger likened it to the weather compared to the climate.
“The weather changes, there’s different things that affect that, but the climate is the big picture. What has our jail and justice system done over the last decade? The numbers that we’ve looked at through the feasibility study, through the University of Cincinnati study, and through the National Institute of Corrections study, as well as our local study … historically, over the last decade we’ve been over our rated capacity, every year,” Blessinger said. “And that’s what got this whole conversation started.”
Blessinger explained they were building a jail to address the future needs for the community.
“I would agree,” Commissioner Nick Hostetter said. “We’re not building for today, we’re building for the future. We’ve got an outdated linear design in our jail that needs to be updated.”
Commissioner Elmer Brames, who served on the committee during the time they were conducting the feasibility studies, explained he felt the judicial center was an important part of the project.
“I felt like this is the third leg of the project and solves many problems or concerns that we have in the county as we deal with the available space,” he said. “And I would add that as time goes on, I think there’s going to be a demand for even more space.”
Dubois County Circuit Court Judge Nathan Verkamp appeared at the county council meeting last week and commented that the current design plan to only have two courts in the new judicial center is a step backward for the county. He told the council that the county currently has three courtrooms in the courthouse and with the number of cases in the county, would likely need all three courtrooms when they added a third judge in the future.
Blessinger commented Monday that RQAW would be seeking more input from the county staff and officeholders as they finished the design to learn more about their needs.
In the end, the commissioners made the decision to include the judicial center in the design phase to allow them the option of either including it in the overall project or as an alternative when they put it out for bid early next year.
