In a 5-0 vote in early February, the Wright County Board of Commissioners approved bid documents for the new justice center.

 

The modern 145,000 sq. ft. facility, located next to the county’s law enforcement center, will feature nine technologically advanced courtrooms and will house court administration, court services/probation, a law library, county attorney and space for jury assembly. 

 

The vote came after a 20-minute discussion with construction manager Pete Filippi of Contergrity Group and project manager Anthony Enright from BKV Group.

 

Filippi said the project estimate is $51,346,723.27, which includes a $1.8 million architect/engineering fee, $993,678.29 construction management fee and  construction contingency of $1,372,652.34.

 

Exact figures for the furniture package (FF&E) and technology (IT) were not included in the cost. However, Filippi estimated FF&E at $2.2 million and IT at $1.1 million, bringing the total to over $54.5 million.

 

“That’s the worst case scenario,” said Philippi. “Those (numbers) are still being refined.”

 

Members of the board spoke about the need for a quality courts building, even at the high cost.

 

“It’s hard to look at that 50-some million. It’s a tough number,” said Commissioner Charlie Borrell. “We started off looking at around $30 million, but we were looking at 89,000 sq. ft. With this building, we’re not going to be adding onto it in 10 years. If we went with 89,000 sq. ft., we’d be at capacity real quick, then we’d be behind the curve again.”

 

 “We went through a similar exercise when we did the highway building,” said Commissioner Michael Potter. “When you talk to the front line people, you find out what is required for the work space, and as you drill down into the details with all the meetings we’ve had and all the meetings everyone else has had, this is where we’re at with it.”

 

Commissioner Darek Vetsch said he was concerned about the numbers increasing even more.

 

“I appreciate the effort you guys did to make sure that you’re building us a robust building,” he said. “I’m just getting a little bit of sticker shock because we’re climbing  really fast. We’re knocking at the door of $54 million.”

 

Potter said the ultimate number is not as important as long as the county gets what it needs for the future.

 

“Sticker shock has happened before. We need to put a quality product in here, and the quality lives on long after the price is forgotten,” he said.  “Whether we get this done for $45 million or $55 million, at the end of the day we need to make sure that the product we’re putting out there is sufficient for the county and the citizens for a long time to come.”

 

Judge Kate McPherson, 10th Judicial District, said the current courts area was constructed in 1959 and it was time to make the change. 

 

“We have waited as long as possible to move forward with this project,” she said.

 

She said a new, modern  space was needed that had accommodations for the latest technology, security , presentation of evidence and handicap accessibility. 

 

“This building gives us the opportunity to serve all of the members of our community,” she said.

 

Potter agreed.

 

“These courts have served this county well, but the time is now to move on and modernize ourselves to the world we live in today, not the Perry Mason world of 1959,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a great project, and I think the citizens of Wright County will be very proud of this one.”

 

Bids were being advertised starting mid-February.  A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for March 7, with bid opening set for March 20. The bids will be presented to the board for approval April 3.