BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials will resume talks about a new courts building when the Finance Committee meets Thursday.
The justices of the peace will hear a presentation on funding methods for a new building or an expansion of the existing courts facilities in downtown Bentonville. The committee also will decide whether to proceed with the second phase of a feasibility study that would evaluate possible locations and buildings the county may consider.
Plans for a courts building have been heavily discussed the past few years. A study in January 2014 identified three sites -- two downtown and one on county land on Southwest 14th Street near the jail and Road Department. County Judge Bob Clinard favors the Southwest 14th Street location, citing the greater ease of construction in an open space, minimal disruption of the current courts facilities and other downtown activities during construction plus room for parking and future expansion if needed.
The Public Safety Committee endorsed a downtown building project early in 2015, and the Finance Committee spent some time exploring financing options for a downtown building. Work on the proposal was delayed in September after the county's six circuit judges sent a letter to Clinard and the Quorum Court opposing both downtown plans as inadequate.
The letter -- citing concerns over security, access for the public and judicial system employees, parking and future expansion -- prompted the decision to seek a consulting firm to help with the project. Perkowitz, Ruth & Cromwell, the consultants chosen, presented initial findings to the Public Safety Committee on June 7. That committee passed the issue on to the Finance Committee for a decision on whether to continue the study as originally proposed.
The Finance Committee is now set to debate the project. The committee must decide whether to approve the $119,500 needed to continue the site evaluation and preliminary design work on the project.
Tom Allen, committee chairman, said the Quorum Court may need to reconsider the project with a change in the county judge's office looming. Barry Moehring, justice of the peace, defeated incumbent Bob Clinard for the Republican party nomination in the March 1 primary. Moehring faces Ronnie L. Smith, the Libertarian Party nominee, and write-in candidate Jeff Broadston in the November general election. Moehring favors a more modest expansion of the downtown courts facilities, while Clinard has argued for relocating the courts and related offices to the 14th Street site.
"This is nothing against Bob Clinard and all the things he's done for Benton County," Allen said. "But Bob Clinard is not going to be county judge come Jan. 1, and I think we know who probably is going to be the next judge."
The justices of the peace should consider what a new county judge may mean and he plans to raise the issue, Allen said.
"We ought to talk about it if we're going to proceed with the feasibility study," he said. "Somebody else is going to be county judge. Are they going to work with what we've been doing?"
Clinard said he continues to support the 14th Street location and said he will block any study that doesn't include it. He said he's not surprised that some justices of the peace are looking ahead to the change in administrations, but it won't change his views on the issue.
"The only thing that will go forward under my administration is the consideration of one or more downtown sites and the site on 102 (14th Street)," he said. "I can't make it any clearer. I've told everybody that. The study has to evaluate both sites because you can't compare anything otherwise."
Clinard said he still believes the county needs to focus on a new facility to meet all of the courts system's needs for the foreseeable future. He said a plan that incorporates the existing courthouse, built in 1928, and the old post office building, built in the 1930s, won't be enough.
"To just put a patch on it, that shouldn't be our first option," he said.
Susan Anglin, justice of the peace, said she still favors keeping the courts system in downtown Bentonville, but she will probably favor having the study look at all the options.
"Even though I'm a downtown supporter, if we don't look at the two sites and we're unable to fit a building on the spaces we have available downtown, then what are we going to do?" she asked. "I don't want to spend more money than we have to, but there's still a lot more information we need. Whatever we do, I think the voters are going to want to know we examined all sites and possibilities. I think it will be an interesting discussion."
Benton County's Finance Committee is set to discuss a proposed courts building when the committee meets at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.
General News on 07/06/2016