Priorities: Courts building, jail kitchen – Sturgis Journal

Remodeling the courts building and upgrading the kitchen at the county jail were identified Wednesday as the highest priorities by county commissioners.

Remodeling the courts building and upgrading the kitchen at the county jail were identified Wednesday as the highest priorities by county commissioners. At a work session following an executive committee meeting, commissioners reviewed five projects that have been on the drawing board for years, but are currently in a holding pattern. After an hour of discussion, commissioners agreed the courthouse and jail kitchen projects are the most important. Other matters include the 911 Central Dispatch communications system, a new animal control facility and expansion of Three Rivers Commission on Agings senior center. County administrator Pat Yoder was instructed to research details related to the proposed courthouse and jail kitchen tasks, with the intent that commissioners will begin moving forward to address the issues. Several years ago, commissioners fielded, but did not act upon, a $14 million quote to expand the current courts building. Remodeling is projected to cost at least $4 million and potentially would address a few pressing concerns, including moving employees out of the basement and improvement of an area where jail inmates are held in advance of court appearances. For some time, commission chairman Allen Balog had not realized the courts building basement housed full-time employees, he said. After studying the basement environs, Balog said he is motivated to move employees out of the basement and into a work environment at or above ground. The basement, initially intended only to store records and documents, houses Friend of the Court, District Court probation and Community Corrections. The three departments have about 20 employees among them. There are no windows, theres only one way out ... its just not right, its a horrible situation, Balog said. From day one, it has always bothered me that we have employees in the basement. We need to do something over there. To what extent? I guess thats up to us, but even the judges chambers, theyve got that 1970s look and something needs to be done. The inmate-staging location, meanwhile, remains another area of concern, due to the design of the courts building. Commissioner Kathy Pangle said the female holding room, for example, was designed to accommodate fewer women than what it now can hold. In general, the lockup area is not sufficient for prisoners anymore, Pangle added. You bring the males over and they sometimes have to be kept separated if they are witnesses against each other, she said. There are only two rooms back there, so that means you have to have an officer sitting outside the lockup area in the garage with that other person to keep them away from the witness. Pangle, who previously worked as a security guard at the courthouse, said there also are situations when attorneys and clients have no privacy. Weve had to have them sit out in the hallway, over by the bathrooms, she said. The need to remodel the jails kitchen stems in part from a $14 million estimate to develop a new jail building. Balog said remodeling or expanding the kitchen might not address every need at the jail, but for the money involved, it would bring a much-desired improvement. Food for Commission on Agings Meals on Wheels is prepared with inmate help at the jail kitchen. Following a discussion with SheriffBrad Balk, Balog said he is concerned about the caliber of inmates assigned to kitchen duty. We have so many felons in jail, that people arrested for misdemeanors arent or are very rarely going to jail because theres no room for them, Balog said. So now the felons, who technically shouldnt be trustees, especially in an area such as a kitchen, are now trustees and probably not the most desirable group of individuals preparing meals. Balog said the dozen inmates used for kitchen help are supervised thoroughly, but he and Balk agree its a matter of time before something regrettable happens. Balk told Balog COA meal production is at full capacity, with about 550 meals prepared on-site each day.

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Priorities: Courts building, jail kitchen - Sturgis Journal