COURTHOUSE SOLUTION REQUIRES LONG-TERM THINKING

By

Eric Turner and Guy Cook, Co-Chairs

Building For Justice Committee

 

 

            Over a century ago, when faced with the decision of building a new courthouse to serve the citizens of Polk County, our forebears built an architectural marvel that was not only aesthetically beautiful and inspired respect for all those that entered it, but one that was built to serve many generations to come.  It was a statement about our community, and as a result of their foresight and sacrifice, the Polk County Courthouse has served our community well for over 100 years.  Today, as Polk County has grown and as more and more demands have been placed on our county’s judicial system, this wonderful building has been over-worked, severely outgrown, and now presents serious security and life safety concerns for those who enter it. 

 

No one denies that a decision must be made to address these problems.  Thus, we, as citizens of Polk County, find ourselves again at a crossroads with respect to our foremost public building.  The decision we make concerning its future and the noble purpose it serves will say much about our community, our respect for those who came before us, and what burdens we choose to place on those who follow.  It is a multi-generational decision.  We can either be bold and provide a judicial center that will serve our community for generations and stir the same sense of pride as the current courthouse did for the better part of a century, or we can pursue the most expedient, least costly approach that will temporarily relieve the pressure on the current courthouse but leave any long-term solution for the next generation.

 

The Polk County Board of Supervisors recently voted to hold a public referendum on a $127,000,000 project that will renovate the historic Polk County Courthouse as a working courthouse and construct an adjacent courthouse facility that will meet the needs of Polk County for the next generation.  To prepare for the referendum, the Board of Supervisors voted to retain a local architectural firm (SVPA) in association with a nationally acclaimed firm (HDR) which specializes in courthouse planning and design.  The Board directed the architectural consultants to study the condition of the current courthouse and evaluate the future demands that will be placed on the county’s judicial system.  It also requested an analysis of two options to meet those demand - specifically, the construction of a new facility that would house all courthouse functions, or renovate the current courthouse in combination with a new facility.  At the same time, a bi-partisan committee of local attorneys and interested citizens was formed to work with the architects and county officials to develop a long-term solution to present to the public for its ultimate decision later this year.  This committee has become known as the Building For Justice Committee.

 

The courthouse study by the architects was extraordinarily comprehensive.  The study explored many alternatives.  The study included input from all persons who use or work in the courthouse, including witnesses, jurors, media, law enforcement, juvenile personnel, judges, court attendants, court administration, the county attorney, the public defender, private attorneys, and record clerks.   It included visits to newly constructed courthouses in other communities around the country to see what worked and what did not.  It included the use of statistical experts to formulate reliable projections of future growth in Polk County and the resulting demands that would be placed upon this county’s judicial system.  Most importantly, it included solicitation of input from the public.   

 

In the end, the architects recommended that the best solution to Polk County’s courthouse dilemma was to renovate the historic courthouse as a working courthouse and to construct an adjacent eight-story facility that would house the remainder of the court system and handle additional growth for decades to come.  The anticipated cost is $127,000,000 and while this is a very large sum of money, it was abundantly clear that any long-term solution would be costly, and it became equally apparent that short-term solutions, or worse, doing nothing, would be even more costly to the citizens of Polk County over the long run. 

 

Why should the public support this project?  First, the inadequacies of the Polk County Courthouse in relation to the demands placed upon our county’s judicial system are acute and undeniable.  Second, and more importantly, implementing the long-term solution recommended to the Board of Supervisors is the most cost effective and responsible solution.  Simply put, it is the right thing to do.

 

            For example, when the current courthouse was opened over a century ago, the population of Polk County was 82,000 people.  The courthouse was originally constructed with four courtrooms and had the ability to add two more at a later date.  Much has changed since then.  The population of Polk County has grown more than four-fold since, and consistent with the national trend, case filings have grown at a much faster clip than the population.  As a result, the current courthouse has become extremely overcrowded and now has twenty-seven courtrooms that are shoe-horned into virtually every square foot of available space in the building, including closets. 

 

            The same overcrowding occurs for jurors, who are the bulwark of any democracy.  Every week over 200 prospective jurors are called for jury duty, but the jury assembly room in the courthouse can only hold 70 people, and jurors are left to mingle with witnesses, litigants, and the general public in the hallways, which is not particularly conducive to fair and impartial trials.

 

While the Polk County Courthouse is 137,000 square feet in size, and the amount of rented space is approximately 24,000 square feet, the current space needs (without any future growth) is 329,000 square feet.  The architects have projected the space needs in 2028 to be 435,000 square feet, and this assumes that a new building would be part of the program inasmuch as newer construction has a much higher usable space efficiency (73% in a new building versus 50% in the current courthouse).  Furthermore, the inadequacies of the current courthouse will only become more severe as time progresses given the fact that conservative estimates of future growth of the Polk County judicial system indicates that the case filings will almost double between 2006 and 2030, and the number of judges will increase from the current number of 33 (full-time equivalents) to 57 judges during that same time frame.

 

            The space problem has become so acute that the county has begun to lease space to house various judicial functions.  Space has been rented to construct three new courtrooms for small claims and traffic court, and the court records were also moved offsite to a leased facility.  While this may be a stopgap measure to deal with the space crisis, the architects have estimated that if the county were to lease space to accommodate the growth of the system over the next 25 years (and doing nothing to relieve the over-crowding in the current courthouse), Polk County will incur total lease and tenant improvement costs of approximately $100,000,000 (yes, that is $100,000,000) over that time frame, and in the end, after making these lease expenditures, the county would have no asset to show for it.  This also does not take into account the cost of a de-centralized judicial system that will have significant inherent inefficiencies, such as multiple security systems and personnel.

           

            Another serious concern raised by the architects with respect to the Polk County Courthouse is its security deficiencies.  Over 550,000 people walk through the doors of the courthouse and its satellite court offices every year.  In our society, this level of traffic and interaction is an invitation for trouble.  To help alleviate security concerns, newer courthouse facilities have three separate circulation systems – one serving the public, a separate one serving the staff, and finally, a circulation system for inmates who must appear before the court.  The separate circulation patterns enhance safety for the public and staff.  The current courthouse has one circulation pattern among the public, staff, and inmates, all of which presents a volatile mixture.  Add on top of this the fact that more arrests are made at the Polk County Courthouse than at any other location in Polk County (more than 2,125 in 2007).  Thus, security is a real problem that will eventually have tragic consequences unless something is done.

 

The architects also pointed out significant life safety problems presented by the current courthouse.  The building falls far short of current fire code requirements.  For example, there are no enclosed fire stairs, no smoke evacuation system, no sprinkler system, inadequate standpipe for firefighters, insufficient fire detection and notification systems, and inadequate means of exit in the event of fire.  The building also has had severe rat and cockroach infestations, so much so that the basement of the building ultimately had to be abandoned.  The smell of mold and dead rats permeates court offices, and cockroaches are uninvited visitors during jury trials.

 

            Moreover, we cannot forget about the staff that works in the courthouse each and every day.  There are approximately 235 people that work in the historic Courthouse.  The condition of the courthouse and cramped quarters creates a working environment that is far from desirable.  If we want a judicial system that draws high-performing, public-spirited personnel, they need to be provided a healthy and appealing workplace.

 

            Finally, in case you have been given the impression that the proposed courthouse facility would be a “Taj Mahal” built at the taxpayers’ expense, we want to dispel any such misimpression.  A common way to measure the size of a courthouse project is to determine the square footage of the facility per court (remembering, of course, that this is the entire court system represented by a court, rather than an individual courtroom or judge).  The national average for courthouse facilities is 10,000 – 20,000 square feet per court.  The Polk County courthouse facility recommended by the architects would be far less than even the lower end of the aforementioned range, coming in at approximately 8,200 square feet per court (and this not only would serve current needs but allow expansion for decades to come).  The architects were impressed by the restraint of court personnel when they outlined their space needs during the planning phase, and this translated into a smaller footprint for a new facility.  The plan would only use one-half of the property available for construction across the street from the historic Courthouse.  Thus, the plan “land banks” half of the lot to allow for future expansion decades from now.

 

In the end, the Building For Justice Committee believes that the Polk County community, when presented with the facts, will support the referendum as a responsible, long-term solution to the severe safety, security, and overcrowding problems presented by the current facility.