photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The south side of the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.

The architecture firms handling the expansion of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, as well as the development of a new Public Safety Building, recently presented some ways to trim the project’s budget, but those suggestions weren’t universally embraced by county commissioners.

On Wednesday during a work session, commissioners heard a presentation from Treanor Architects and J.E. Dunn Construction regarding the JLEC project and the planned Douglas County Public Safety Building, which will be built next to the county jail.

The two firms provided county commissioners with an estimated total cost of $76,765,398. As the Journal-World previously reported, the construction costs for the project — the courthouse addition, courthouse renovations, the first phase of the Public Safety Building and site improvements — as well as some contingency funds and other costs, would total about $74 million, and the estimate provided Wednesday includes other nonphysical “soft costs” associated with the project that would increase the cost to that $76,765,398 figure.

photo by: Screenshot/Douglas County

The budget estimate for the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and public safety building project is shown in this slide.

One of the cost-saving options discussed involved scaling back renovations to public restrooms on the lower level, first floor and second floor of the JLEC. By opting not to renovate restrooms, the project could potentially save at least $250,000 per floor. Jeff Lane, a representative from Treanor, said the bathroom renovations weren’t originally intended at the start of design plans and that’s why his team was motivated to cut them if needed.

photo by: Contributed

The Judicial and Law Enforcement Center
(JLEC) with the addition to the building.

That option concerned County Administrator Sarah Plinsky, however.

“Some of those lower level renovations of corridors and restrooms, some of those spaces are 50 years old,” Plinsky said. “I’ve got some real concerns about places of this building that are particularly public facing that would be left untouched while we have some places that are brand new.”

Commissioner Shannon Reid echoed Plinsky’s concerns about leaving frequently used public spaces un-renovated.

“I’m a little concerned to see that those are ready for elimination if that’s what comes down to it for the budget,” Reid said.

Commissioner Karen Willey voiced concerns about the number of windows on the west side of both the Public Safety Building and the JLEC addition. She was particularly struck by the large expanse of glass facing west without any shade. From a sustainability perspective, she questioned the long-term costs associated with heating and cooling and suggested that the amount of glass used in these projects might need to be reconsidered.

Lane said the firm had “done an energy study with our engineer to make sure that we do it right,”

“I don’t believe we’re doing anything that’s going to make this a very inefficient building. We work really hard to make sure the system’s right and that energy is in the right spot at the end,” he said.

photo by: Contributed

The construction plan for the new “public safety building” next to the Douglas County Jail, 3601 E 25th St.

Lane also said that the use of glass in the project was intended to enhance transparency of the county’s justice system for those viewing from the outside. Commissioner Patrick Kelly supported this goal of fostering transparency between the community and the project. He said that the large amount of glass was not an issue and noted that it had already been accounted for in the project’s budget.

“I appreciate the attention to daylight, and I know there will be some cost to glass, but I think that cost is justified to communicate certain ideals to our community that should be included in an architectural project,” Kelly said.

The JLEC building – which houses the District Court, District Attorney’s Office, emergency communications office, emergency management office, Sheriff’s Office, IT office, and building and maintenance staff – will have an addition to the south side of the original building to create space for more courtrooms, judge’s chambers, conference rooms and more.

The new Public Safety Building next to the Douglas County Jail would serve as a headquarters for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the 911 dispatch center and the county’s emergency management center.

As the Journal-World reported, county commissioners collaborated with Treanor to develop design plans and estimate costs for upgrading the 911 service’s home base, enhancing the efficiency of the Sheriff’s Office and bolstering safety for county residents. In May, the commission authorized a plan to construct the 57,000-square-foot addition on the south side of the JLEC, renovate existing areas within the current building, and build the 25,965-square-foot Public Safety Building.

The team also gave an estimated start time of January 2025. The initial phase will focus on the JLEC building addition, expected to last about a year and a half, from winter 2025 to summer 2026. Construction of the Public Safety Building will run from spring 2025 to spring 2026.

Once both the addition and the Public Safety Building are complete, staff will begin moving into the new spaces. This transition will facilitate the renovation of the existing JLEC, which will be tackled one floor at a time, starting in summer 2026 and concluding by the end of summer 2027.