Weld County Justice Center Is the Right Call

I know the size of the Weld County Justice Center gives people heartburn.

It should.

As Chair of the Board of Weld County Commissioners, I do not believe government gets to walk into the public square, announce the biggest project in county history, and then act offended when taxpayers ask hard questions. Hard questions are not a nuisance. They are the job.

But after nearly two years of studying this project from every angle I can find, my conclusion is simple: Weld County needs this Justice Center, and moving forward as one coordinated project is the right, responsible, and fiscally conservative decision.

This is not about building a monument to county government. If I wanted marble, ego, and a ribbon-cutting shrine to bureaucracy, I would have picked a different line of work. This is about courts, public safety, jurors, victims, witnesses, defendants, deputies, judges, clerks, attorneys, families, and regular people trying to move through a justice system that has simply outgrown the buildings we are using.

Colorado law requires counties to provide a suitable courthouse and court facilities at the county seat. That part is not optional. It is not a mood. It is not a suggestion from Denver written in disappearing ink. Counties have a duty to provide these facilities and keep them functioning. (law.justia.com)

The Office of the State Court Administrator’s assessment confirmed what we have been hearing from court staff, the District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office, our owner’s representative, and our design team: the current facilities have serious limitations. The assessment identifies concerns with secure travel paths for judges and judicial staff, separation between public, private, and secure movement, ADA-accessible witness boxes, restrooms, juror parking, and evidence storage. It also estimates Weld County courts and probation need about 226,000 additional gross square feet to meet 20-year needs. (wcjc.weld.gov)

That is not a cosmetic problem.

That is not “fresh paint and some new carpet” territory.

That is a system running out of room while the county keeps growing.

Some have asked whether we could remodel what we have, add smaller buildings over time, and stretch the current setup a little longer. We could. Government can always find a way to spend millions of dollars making an old problem look slightly newer.

But putting multi-million-dollar Band-Aids on 50-year-old+ buildings is not planning. It is not fiscal responsibility. It is kicking a bigger, more expensive can down the road to a future board and calling the kick “prudence.”

The county’s own Justice Center FAQ acknowledges renovation and reuse have been part of the discussion, but it also states the existing facilities have limitations in space, security, circulation, courtroom capacity, and long-term functionality that are difficult to solve through renovation alone. (wcjc.weld.gov)

That is the key. We are not abandoning stewardship. We are practicing it.

Now, let me deal directly with the part where my own position changed.

I was against the “three-project” proposal. It did not sit right with me. I did not like treating the parking garage, core and shell, and tenant finish as separate projects if, in plain English, we were building one Justice Center. I do not like government word games. I do not like clever workarounds. If something looks like one horse, smells like one horse, and eats like one horse, I am not interested in calling it three ponies for accounting purposes.

At the time, I believed Section 14-8 of the Weld County Home Rule Charter required a vote because of the size of the project. I read it through the lens of TABOR and taxpayer protection. That instinct was not wrong. Taxpayers deserve protection. Voters should approve tax increases. Always.

But thanks to the hard work of our county attorneys, I now have a better understanding of what Section 14-8 actually says in context. It speaks in terms of ad valorem taxation, a three-mill levy, and three years. That is tax language. The resolution before the Board lays out the legal analysis: the county has sufficient funds available, is not raising taxes for this project, and is complying with TABOR’s limits on tax increases and multi-year financial obligations.

The resolution the Board of County Commissioners will consider on Monday (6/22) directs staff to issue one RFP for a single Construction Manager/General Contractor for the entire Justice Center, including core and shell, tenant finish, and the adjacent parking garage. (Proposed resolution text)

That matters because the practical side matters too.

Level5 has advised that building the Justice Center as one unified project, instead of three separate projects with potentially different contractors, will save tens of millions of dollars. That is not pocket change. That is real money. Taxpayer money.

So yes, my position changed.

Good.

Public officials should be capable of learning new information without treating their first opinion like sacred scripture. Pride is expensive. Weld County taxpayers should not have to finance mine.

We have hired serious people. Fentress Studios was selected through a competitive, multi-stage process to provide full design and engineering services. The county reviewed six proposals, shortlisted three firms, and approved Fentress for a $19,237,130 design and engineering contract. The concept now includes a six-story Justice Center and adjoining parking garage on the West Block in downtown Greeley, with initial finished court floors and room to grow. (weld.gov)

The downtown location was not picked by throwing a dart at a map. The Board studied multiple options, held public listening sessions, worked with the City of Greeley and Richmark, and chose the West Block option because it provided the best value and kept core civic functions in downtown Greeley. (weld.gov)

This project should be scrutinized. It should be watched. It should be questioned. It should be tracked with the kind of attention a farmer gives a storm cloud at harvest.

But scrutiny is not the same as paralysis.

Weld County is building for the next century. Not the next election cycle. Not the next Facebook argument. Not the next round of political theater.

This is the largest project Weld County has ever tackled. We have studied it, argued over it, questioned it, revised it, and tested it. Now it is time to do the right thing: build the Justice Center as one project, without raising taxes, with discipline, transparency, and respect for the taxpayers who earned every dollar government is about to spend.