Cook County Board approves preliminary plans for proposed justice center

Kirsten Wisniewski | April 11, 2024

The Cook County Board of Commissioners met on Apr. 9. The meeting included one agenda item that garnered a lot of public attention- a presentation of plans for the proposed justice center that is part of the larger Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The county applied for state bonding to help cover the cost of the proposed justice center, and in an effort to strengthen that application, hired BKV Group, an architectural firm, to draft a preliminary plan of the building.

The firm was hired in February and has been meeting with department leaders and stakeholders to create the draft. The slides from the group’s presentation to the board were part of the publicly available board packet that the county shared on the county website on Apr. 4. The preliminary plans also got the attention of residents who oppose the justice center.

Public Comment

The meeting attracted a dozen members of the public. It began with a public comment period, during which 7 attendees made statements. Many of those who spoke during public comment raised concerns about the cost of the justice center, saying that they worried about what impact the estimated cost of $27-33 million for construction would have on the county levy. Cook County Administrator James Joerke told WTIP that he understood those concerns. He said, “The folks who gave comment on the cost of the project are not wrong. It’s a big price tag. And it’s something that, as I said in the meeting, if we were to try to fully absorb that cost into the levy, it would create a significant new burden for local taxpayers. That is something that we want to avoid.”

Joerke said that in an effort to keep the tax burden on residents as limited as possible, the county has applied for state bonding funds, and is pursuing additional federal funding. He also reiterated that, despite approving this preliminary plan, the county is not committing any additional resources to the project at this time. He said that when funding decisions from the state and federal levels have been made, the county will then discuss how to proceed.

Concern over the orchard that is next to the current Law Enforcement Center was also expressed during the public comment period. The plans as they stand would include removal of the fruit trees and plants in the orchard. In previous Board of Commissioners meetings, various commissioners have asked about whether there was a way to leave the orchard intact. At the Apr. 9 meeting, BKV Group explained the limitations of the site, especially considering the steep grade of the property, and the existing buildings, and said that they did not see a way to preserve the orchard while also meeting the needs expressed by county staff and leaders. Joerke told WTIP that while he thinks that the orchard is an asset to the community, he sees the proposed judicial center as meeting a community need, as well.

The final speaker during the public comment period was retired 6th Judicial District Judge Michael Cuzzo. Cuzzo is on the committee exploring the implementation of the proposed justice center. He expressed the need for better security, and mentioned that in old buildings this can be difficult to accomplish. Joerke told WTIP that simply the size of the existing courthouse areas posed safety risks, and that there was not a way to address many of those issues within the current space. He also mentioned that the county is obligated by state statute to provide appropriate facilities for court proceedings.

Presentation of the draft

After the public comment period, BKV Group presented the plans to the board and meeting attendees, including answering questions from the board as they presented, and talking through the building diagrams and budget breakdowns. As the presentation began, Joerke reminded the public that while the board was being asked to approve the draft plans at the meeting, it did not reflect an official decision to build the proposed justice center without further funding discussions.

Commissioner Deb White also spoke at the beginning of the presentation and addressed some of the skepticism expressed during the public comment period, during which speakers cited previous county building projects that have resulted in high maintenance costs or poor construction. White said that she was part of the group of county representatives who met with BKV Group as the architects collected information about county needs. She said of BKV Group, “I have great feelings and confidence that they were honest and listened, communicated well in helping to develop what the people sitting in that room, the people will be using that space, wanted.”

The presentation included explanations of several stages of the planning process, like potential floor plans or building configurations. The architects also explained what elements of both the law enforcement and court portions of the justice center were designed based on specifications from the Minnesota Department of Justice.

BKV Group also included details of their estimated costs, including how they landed on the projections in the draft plans. According to BKV Group, with construction costs on the rise, the county can expect that costs within construction will rise about 4% annually. They also pointed to the high costs of building in Cook County.

As the board moved to vote on approving the preliminary plans, Commissioner Ann Sullivan reminded the board that approving the draft does not commit the county to building the Justice Center. Commissioner Stacey Johnson said that since she was skeptical that the state will award Cook County enough bonding funds, the estimated cost of the project was simply too high to even consider.

The motion to approve the proposed plans passed 3-2. Commissioner White joined Johnson in opposition to approving the draft, citing concerns about the long-term costs and what additional expenses may come with renovating the existing courthouse to make it usable for other county purposes in the future.

Other CIP updates

While the proposed Justice Center dominated the discussion at the Apr. 9 meeting, the deferred maintenance portion of the CIP is also moving forward. In March, the county finalized the sale of CIP and abatement bonds to help fund the maintenance projects identified in the CIP. Joerke told WTIP that at the top of the list of deferred maintenance projects are a complete reroofing of the Cook County Community Center, and significant roof work on the Colvill town hall. He said that the county is working with CR-BPS, the firm who helped create the CIP, to line up bids for that work. Those items are top priority for the county given that roof work is best done in the warmer months.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Cook County Administrator James Joerke about the most recent Board of Commissioners meeting, as well as the community concerns raised in response to the preliminary plans for the proposed justice center. Audio from that interview is below.