By SUMMER KELLEY First published in the March 19 edition.
(LEFT) - District Attorney Herbert 'Buzz' Franklin
Recent meeting held to discuss concerns and issues
At an informal meeting last Thursday, County Commissioners Lamar Lowery and David Young met with District Attorney Buzz Franklin, Probate Judge Jan Ellison, Magistrate Judge Tom Reed, and Terry Reynolds, a planner from the architectural firm Aracadis.
The group met to discuss questions, feelings and misconceptions over the new courthouse and the $5 million asked for by the stakeholders in order to build the facility.
Franklin told the group that he wanted to address any concerns.
“Any time you are spending taxpayer’s money you need to justify what you are doing and why,” Franklin said.
The original plan for additional space was to add a second story to the building, which houses the Sheriff’s office, jail, Probate office, Magistrate office, and courtroom facilities.
Due to cost cutting measures in 1987 when the facility was first constructed, only part of the building had been reinforced to handle a second story. The reinforced area of the building would not provide the extra space needed and the offices already housed in the building have continued growing and are running out of space just as the District Attorney’s office and Superior Court Clerk’s office have at the courthouse.
Franklin said he is a taxpayer in Dade County and feels that if you don’t build for sometime in the future you are wasting taxpayer’s money.
The two county commissioners asked the group about the reasoning behind putting the Probate office, Magistrate office, Superior Court Clerk and District Attorney’s office and courtroom in the same building. Reed said that more storage space is needed and short-term solutions won’t work for long-term problems. Renting storage facilities and space for files could put files needed in use by the judges in several locations. It also puts out money that would be better used for a building that provides the necessary storage space.
Ellison also pointed out that security is a factor as well since they will all need state mandated court security. Ellison said that providing security for two buildings would mean the county would be paying double.
“I’ve never been afraid before,” Ellison said. “But it (security) is a concern now.” Another issue is that the need for space is going to be growing, especially with the growth of the criminal justice system, and the group has been planning for something that will last many years.
“The Sheriff definitely needs more space and in a year Jan Ellison will be out of space,” Reed said.
The commissioners also told the stakeholders that citizens were concerned over the amount of courtrooms there would be in the county. Franklin said that they would not be adding courtrooms since the courtroom in the current justice building would be given to the Sheriff’s Department to be used for office space or whatever space they needed.
“There’s a lot of questions, and those need to be answered,” Franklin said. “Any of us would be glad to answer the questions. We’re all of the same mind. We’re willing to compromise as far as the architect will let us.”
Lowery pointed out that the additional space would mean more cleaning, maintenance and so on, requiring more taxes be added and that the concern of people he had talked to was that we didn’t need that much at one time. Young said that nobody seems to be disagreeing with the fact that Franklin and Page needed more space, but not everyone felt that everyone else needed to go to a new building. Young who stated that even though the county would pay more on the completed building in the long run, it would be paid a little at a time suggested the possibility of an expandable building. Ellison and Franklin pointed out various problems with the expandable building plan saying that the county would always be playing catch up and business would always have to be conducted around the construction. Franklin used Marion County as an example where they built a building with one floor that is not even being used right now in order to save their taxpayers money in the long run.
“You are saying because we can’t adequately explain it, we’ll do it the more expensive way and with more hassle,” Franklin said. “It’s penny wise, pound foolish.”
The commissioners apologized to Franklin and the others saying that the whole courthouse issue has been handled badly from the beginning. The numbers stated to the taxpayers included more money than necessary and taxpayers had not been informed of the needs and the possibility of getting prisoner labor and other expenditures that could be lowered.
Reed said what needed to be done was the public’s perception needed to be changed. The group discussed further the possibility of using prisoner labor and what might be done with the spaces that would be left vacant, including the Dade County Courthouse.
“The need is now,” Reed said. “And the need is going to grow. You have been elected to represent the need of the people. They’ve chosen you to lead.”
Comments (0)
The Dade Sentinel
http://dadesentinel.com/article.php/20080320112540176