Montezuma County is at a crossroads regarding the future of its fragmented judicial court campus.
Spread far and wide across Cortez, the 22nd Judicial District offices, jail, and county court facilities are lacking in space, efficiency, public accommodations, and professional offices, according to a recent report by the Colorado Judicial Facilities Planning office.
Montezuma County is the last Colorado county to not consolidate county and district courts into one building. The District Attorney’s office is not located at either court house, and the county jail and sheriff department is separated from probation offices and local prosecutors.
As population increases, lack of space for judges, juries, the public doing business, collections, lawyers, probation officers, prisoners, and court-related departments are reaching their limits, said Tom Franklin, a planner with the Colorado court administration office.
“The population of your county is increasing, and continued to do so even during the economic downturn when other counties were decreasing,” he said. “An upgraded facility will provide adequate and secure customer service to the citizens of the county.”
The current population in Montezuma County is 25,532. Under current trending, the Department of Local Affairs estimates that the population could increase by 15,000 in the next 25 years to 40,051. This is a 62 percent increase in population which corresponds to predicted increases in court filings and judicial staffing.
“The DOLA projections have proven accurate within five percentage points in this region,” Franklin said.
While the current judicial facilities have served the community for the last 75 years, improvements are needed to accommodate growing population, he said.
Consolidation
quagmire
In Colorado, the Montezuma District Court is rated fourth most in need of an upgrade, expansion or relocation, according to the study.
The Main Street facility was constructed in 1939 and had a combined 12,000 square feet on three levels, but only 8,000 square feet is considered functional office space. A three-story annex was built in early 1960 which added 18,000 square feet to the east side of the original structure.
In 1970 the Judicial Trial Courts had outgrown their Main Street space allocation so the county court docket (traffic and misdemeanor) moved into their current offices spaces on Mildred, three miles away. They were joined at that location by the probation department in 2002.
To free up space for judicial court needs, in 2012 the county relocated the assessor, treasurer, and clerk/recorder office to a recently acquired county annex across the street, formerly First National Bank.
A preliminary proposal has county court and probation offices at the Mildred St. location moving into the freed up space at county building on Main St.
According to the state court administrator study, combined court operations in the county are currently using 15,200 square feet in the two separate buildings.
To handle current and future demands, the report recommends the county and district court programs be expanded to 36,288 square feet.
“You have simply outgrown both buildings are there is no viable option for expansion at the present location,” Franklin said.
He added that Montezuma County qualifies for state funding to establish litigant support services and free mediation services for the public but lacks the space for the programs.
The proposed consolidation of courts and probation is considered to be a temporary fix until a longer term solution can be found. There has not been an estimated cost for the remodel, but $250,000 has been initially budgeted for the project.
The fear is that repeated expansions will become a money pit and be poor use of public funds.
New Justice center?
Another option is to ask voters for a tax-supported bond sale to finance a new Justice Center that would house all the departments and serve the community for the next 50 years.
Or, depending on interest rates, it could be funded internally.
“There are mechanisms for financing a new center without raising taxes. Financing it could be paid for out of the budget over a period of time,” said District Court Judge Doug Walker. “I think we need to plan down the road for a better facility.”
At any rate, how to best go forward will have to be a community discussion, said county commissioner Steve Chappell. For now the commission will focus on the re-organization plan, he said.
“We are not a flush county, and we know our voters. Unless a bond looks very promising, it will likely fail,” he said. “This community is hesitant to raise taxes.”
To help with costs State Court Administrator Gerald Marroney, offered the county pro bono architecture services for planning purposes.
It was noted that there is ample land around the county jail and sheriff department on the corner of Empire Street and Mildred Street to build a new justice center. Architectual firm Reilly Johnson, presented an estimated cost for a new court facility at between $10 million and $12 million.
“It would be ideal to see all the courts, DA offices and probation consolidated at the county jail location, but whether that is possible is hard to know,” added commissioner Keenan Ertel. “There would have to be a lot of financial planning to see if it were feasible.”
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com