County commission approves plan to move courts to Jackson

A citizen advisory committee formed to assess plans for the future of Cape Girardeau County facilities delivered its final report to county commissioners Monday, recommending a plan that would move all court operations to a new courthouse, tear down the administration building and build a parking garage near the courthouse.

The plan also calls for renovating the historic Jackson courthouse and removes services from the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. County services, such as offices of the county clerk and assessor, would remain available in Cape Girardeau.

Commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation.

The nine-person committee has spent the past year touring facilities, speaking with county officeholders and reviewing the three plans laid out by St. Louis-based Treanor Architects. While the three plans served as a starting point for the committee, Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said it wasn't limited to just those options.

"Going into this, our guidance to the committee was, 'Here's a place to start. If you don't like any of these, feel free to come up with a fourth or fifth [option],'" he said. "Those three choices weren't the only ones available to the committee."

Committee chairman Mike Seabaugh said as the group reviewed county facilities, "we all felt there were a lot of issues." Safety, maintenance and lack of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act were among the chief concerns cited by Seabaugh and others. Fellow committee member Jim Roche said the Common Pleas Courthouse, which was built in the 1800s, stood out foremost in his mind when considering the biggest issues with county facilities.

"It's not ADA compliant. Then, you go down to the cellar and it's damp and that seems awfully unhealthy," he said. "We need to get out of the 19th century and move on to the 21st century. This is a first-class county and I think we need first-class facilities."

At the two public meetings hosted earlier this month, Seabaugh said the future of Common Pleas and the effect the new facilities layout would have on the Jackson square were the top issues. Seabaugh pointed out the layout plan for the facilities, as recommended by the architects, is not "set in stone." The plans call for the new courthouse to be built over a section of Washington Street, near its intersection with U.S. 61, but county officials said that could change.

As for removing court services from Common Pleas, committee members said they believed everyone in the county would benefit from a new courthouse in Jackson, the county seat. Local attorney Steve Wilson, also a member of the committee, said the jury experience in Cape Girardeau County is like "herding cattle." Other counties offer jury members a place to gather and sit peacefully, but at the local courts, options are limited to hallways and small, crowded rooms.

Fellow committee member and former Cape Girardeau mayor Jay Knudtson said he understood the hesitancy that's been expressed by members of the Cape Girardeau City Council about removal of court services from the city. He said he wished more county residents had the opportunity to tour the county facilities, which he considered a learning experience. Looking at the consolidation of services on a countywide level, Knudtson said he recognized it was a necessary move that "makes sense for good government and efficiency."

But Cape Girardeau Councilwoman Loretta Schneider said she wasn't quite ready to give up on the removal of court services from her city. She called for more discussion of who, geographically, uses court services most and how the shift in services will affect court visitors.

"Whether this is the best proposal, I think that is yet to be decided," she said. " ... I think we just need to keep talking."

The discussion of the future for county facilities is far from over, Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper pointed out. The next step is identifying a funding source for the plan, which county officials would like to keep in the $25 million range. A public hearing on the possibility of placing a use tax question on the April ballot will be at 9 a.m. today.

If the issue does go before voters in the coming election and is approved, Koeper said the county would have to wait more than a year to determine the level of revenue generated by the tax levied on certain out-of-state purchases. Then, the county would hire an architect to draw out more specific building plans and begin working with a bonding company to determine bonding options available with the use tax revenue. When the county does hire an architect, Koeper said a new citizen advisory board likely would be formed to give voice to public concerns throughout the design process.

He also said once a funding source was approved, the county was about five years away from moving into a new facility.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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