County Eyes Next Steps for New Jail/Justice Facility

Grand Traverse County commissioners Wednesday will discuss next steps in pursuing a new jail and justice facility – an envisioned centralized complex to be potentially located on either the Boardman/Washington or LaFranier campus.

County commissioners voted unanimously in April to approve a resolution of support for constructing a new jail. The existing county jail on Washington Street was built in 1964 and originally designed to hold 85 inmates “in a linear layout without consideration for future large growth in the inmate population,” according to the resolution. The inmate population today averages 151 per day. A recent facilities report rated most of the jail infrastructure as being in “fair,” “poor,” or “replace” condition, with stress fractures in the jail lobby floor this summer requiring a temporary closure and a $110,000 contract with an outside firm to evaluate the building’s structural integrity.

Deputy County Administrator Chris Forsyth previously noted that “due to the age and layout of the jail, renovation would not be effective – and problems related to efficiencies, correction staffing issues, and the mental or physical health needs of inmates would continue.” Commissioners were advised to plan for a new jail, which Forsyth said should “include consideration of studying the feasibility of the jail being part of a larger criminal justice complex.” Examples of entities that could be housed in that complex include the jail, the courts, the prosecutor’s office, the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office, the Traverse City Police Department, and the Michigan State Police, according to County Administrator Nate Alger.

In conjunction with their vote to pursue a new facility, commissioners established a steering committee to guide the planning process. An executive committee consisting of Alger, Commission Chair Scott Sieffert, Vice Chair TJ Andrews, Judge Charles Hamlyn, Sheriff Mike Shea, County Director of Parks and Facilities John Chase, Deputy Director of Facilities Chris Comeaux, and risk consultant Tom Cremonte of Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority (the county’s insurance provider) has met four times – most recently September 4 – and will present their recommendations to commissioners Wednesday.

Recommended next steps are primarily focused on two areas: community engagement and technical facilities planning. The executive committee recommends creating a Justice Facility Advisory Committee (JFAC), which would assist with “strategic planning, community engagement, and problem-solving.” Though it would have an advisory and not decision-making role, the JFAC would include representatives from the county and city commissions, courts, law enforcement, health department, emergency room, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Authority, Grand Traverse Mental Health Crisis and Access Center, and community groups. A request-for-proposals (RFP) process would be used to hire a facilitator who would work with the committee and commissioners to hold public input sessions and gather feedback on what the community wants to see in a new justice facility.

Another committee, the Justice Facility Technical Committee (JFTC), would provide advice on “technical, scientific, market, and policy issues” related to a new complex and “continue in an advisory role during the facility design phase.” Recommended members include Cremonte, the Michigan Department of Corrections, law enforcement, courts, county facilities, the Traverse City Fire Department, and emergency medical services. A second RFP process would be used to hire a firm to lead planning and preliminary design oversight for a new facility.

A key part of that discussion will be identifying where the justice facility should go. Both Alger and Andrews tell The Ticker the Boardman/Washington campus is likely the top contender. “The sheriff feels very adamantly his office needs to be with the jail, and he wants to stay with city police,” Alger says. That would require keeping the justice facility inside city limits, since the TCPD is required to operate there. It’s possible to look at the existing law enforcement campus on Woodmere Avenue, or other properties inside the city –  but those are constrained compared to the Boardman/Washington campus, Alger says.

The courts, jail, and prosecutor’s office are also already located on Boardman/Washington. Both county and city commissioners have discussed the future of the Governmental Center complex – which is jointly owned by the two municipalities – and the possibility for some buildings and/or parking lots to be razed, reconstructed, or reconfigured. “There’s been discussion around reorganizing the Boardman campus, and it makes a lot of sense,” says Andrews. “It’s got the floor space, the proximity to the courthouses, the centrality in the community. A back-of-the-envelope analysis shows you could fit everything there in one location. That has a lot of value and appeal to the users of the system.”

Building a new complex at the county’s LaFranier Road complex is another option – but has some drawbacks, according to Alger and Andrews. The TCPD couldn’t be located there, for one. Also, several elected county officials are required to have their offices in the county seat, which is currently the City of Traverse City. The county would have to change its seat to Garfield Township for those officials to be located on LaFranier. Andrews notes that while LaFranier has more property space, transportation would be yet another challenge there compared to Boardman/Washington. “Nothing is decided, though, and that’s the point of the facilities RFP: to flesh out those locations,” Andrews says. That planning process will also identify whether other county departments should be relocated or reconfigured as part of the new justice facility construction, Alger says.

Commissioners will be in study session Wednesday, meaning they will discuss but not take action on the recommended next steps. Alger says the board will likely vote on establishing the two committees and issuing the two RFPs at either their September 17 or October 1 meeting. Andrews acknowledges that building a new jail has been discussed for years by previous boards with no action – and now comes at a time when Grand Traverse County is already undertaking significant expansion work, including the planned growth of the LaFranier campus to include a centralized storage facility and combined emergency operations and 911/Central Dispatch center. However, Andrews says the unanimous bipartisan vote of commissioners to pursue a new jail shows the board is “committed to moving this forward.”

“The jail was beyond its useful life 20 years ago, and it’s only gotten worse,” Andrews says. “Whether it’s a combination of bonding or reserves or something else, we’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it.”