Projects come up for vote

— More than $9 million in building projects will be decided during Thursday night’s meeting of the Quorum Court.

In November, the Committee of 13 voted to send an aggressive county building plan to the Quorum Court for final approval. Under the plan, the county will purchase space inside the Center for Nonprofits in Rogers to house the Health Department, allocate $1.02 million to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office for the purposes of building a minimum security jail barracks and purchase another building at 5121 S.W. Runway Blvd. in Bentonville for a juvenile detention center.

The purchase price ofthe building on Southwest Runway Boulevard across from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center on Arkansas 12 is $1.2 million. Lots next to the building will be purchased for an additional $150,000.

The existing building on that site will be used to house juvenile probation offices and the juvenile court system. A $2.5 million juvenile detention center will be built on the adjacent lots.

The total cost of the juvenile detention center, including a $515,000 contingency cost, is $4,919,240.

The second building proposal Justices of the peace will vote on involves spending $1,966,905 to purchase 23,850 square feet of the Center for Nonprofits in Rogers to house the Health Department.

The third building proposal calls to construct a minimum security jail barracks. The facility will cost $2.2 million and will alleviate the overcrowding in the county jail for five years, Sheriff Keith Ferguson said during the November meeting of the Committee of 13. Ferguson has said he will use the $1.02 million currently in the county’s capital expenditures account earmarked for the project and borrow the rest of the money needed to complete the project.

All three proposals are not likely to get final approval from the Quorum Court because the county simply cannot afford to do everything, Justice of the Peace Dan Douglas said. The Quorum Court will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the County Administration Building at 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.

News, Pages 21 on 12/16/2009