Why do we need a new courthouse in Polk County?

Polk County’s Courthouse is overcrowded, unsafe, and without adequate security.  Built more than 100 years ago to house 4 courtrooms, the building now has 27 courtrooms jammed into every nook and cranny.  Just as the population of Polk County has grown over the last 100 years (a 500% increase) so has our judicial system, yet the courthouse, our community building for justice, has not kept up.  More than 140,000 cases were filed at the courthouse last year, including more than 15,000 criminal cases.  One hundred ninety-two jury trials were held at the courthouse in 2007, the most of any courthouse in the state.  All of this activity occurs in a building not in compliance with the modern fire code, where inmates mix with the public, judges and jurors, where mold permeates the cooling system, and where more persons were arrested than any other place in the county. 

The building must be preserved and updated, but it’s simply not big enough to handle the demands of Iowa’s largest county.  The Polk County judges have been working with the Polk County Board of Supervisors to analyze the current and future space needs of the court system as well as the safety and security shortcomings of the current building. 

On April 29, Polk County voters will decide whether we should fix the safety and security problems with the current courthouse plus build a facility that is large enough to eliminate the need for costly lease space.  The problem will only become bigger and more expensive to address in the years to come if we aren’t successful on April 29.  Please look through our site to learn more about the proposal and the problems with the current courthouse.