County supervisors were receptive to a report they received this
week that calls for the relocation and expansion of several county
criminal justice buildings
– projects that will cost taxpayers an estimated $19.2
million.
Hollister – County supervisors were receptive to a report they received this week that calls for the relocation and expansion of several county criminal justice buildings – projects that will cost taxpayers an estimated $19.2 million.
A report drafted by Facility Design Group, Inc. calls for a relocation of the sheriff’s and probation departments out of downtown Hollister to locations near the jail on Flynn Road. Also included in the plan is an expansion of the jail and Juvenile Hall. Supervisors all agreed the sheriff’s and probation departments need more space.
“I think we need to look at this with full support,” Supervisor Don Marcus said during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
In January, the board gave Sheriff Curtis Hill the go-ahead to pay Facility Design $30,000 to assess future space needs and create a master plan for county criminal justice agencies. The recently-released report states that current and projected population growth in the county will continue to overburden the county’s already crowded law enforcement facilities.
Hill said that overcrowding at the county jail, which is built to hold a maximum of 125 inmates, is an ongoing problem and each day his department has to work with the local court to decide which inmates can be released early. His 55-year-old office on Fourth Street is also severely inadequate, he said, with closets that serve as offices and a leaky roof.
“We’re dying in that building” Hill said. “I’m on the ragged edge.”
Currently, both the sheriff’s office and probation department are located on Fourth Street near the county administration building. Enlarging the current facilities on Fourth Street is not an option because the buildings are decades old and are in a tight location that doesn’t allow for expansion, according to the report.
The report recommends:
n A nearly 27,000 square-foot expansion of the county’s adult jail located on Flynn Road, at an estimated cost of $3.5 million.
n Construction of a new 30,000 square-foot sheriff’s office to be connected to the jail on Flynn Road, at an estimated cost of $6.1 million.
n A nearly 18,000 square-foot expansion of Juvenile Hall, located adjacent to the jail, at an estimated cost of $6.1 million.
n Construction of a new 7,000 square-foot probation department to be connected to Juvenile Hall, with an estimated cost of $3.5 million.
While Supervisor Pat Loe said she believes that the sheriff’s and probation departments need more space, she is wary about moving the facilities and the employees who work at them out of downtown where they help sustain business.
“Obviously we need to expand the administration (building) of the sheriff’s department,” she said. “How they are expanded and where they go, we have to look into that.”
Downtown merchants have also voiced concerns about the county’s criminal justice facilities, and its employees, being moved out of the area and the loss of business that could come with it. Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz voiced the same concerns, questioning how a move might affect the downtown business climate. However, he said Wednesday that in the long run it is better the county have adequate space for its criminal justice facilities.
Both Hill and County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson assured supervisors that downtown won’t lose anything because the county will continue to use the buildings.
“The county’s only going to get bigger,” Hill said. “If I move out someone will move in right behind me.”
Though he supports Hill, De La Cruz said he believes the county should study how the plan might affect downtown, and then do something to address it.
Loe also said she would want to be sure that the county has a new tenant for the buildings before she would support moving the sheriff’s and probation departments out of downtown.
Now that the board has seen the report, Hill will work with supervisors Anthony Botelho and Marcus, who comprise the board’s facilities subcommittee, to start firming up the plans. While the project is still in its infancy, supervisors will eventually have to vote to approve it before it can become a reality.
“We’re going to further look into funding issues involved in putting the project together,” Marcus said, “then certainly look further into design aspects of the facility.”
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
