Kootenai County examines impact of Justice Building expansion

COEUR d’ALENE — With a 60,000-square-foot Kootenai County Justice Building expansion on the horizon, the county will examine how to shuffle its offices to fill newly available space on the downtown Coeur d’Alene campus.

The expansion will add three courtrooms and facilities for the sheriff’s office, district court employees, prosecutors and other county staff, across multiple floors. The move could bring some scattered county offices closer together.

“Eventually, if we can bring (the elections office) back on campus, that might work out, too,” Commissioner Leslie Duncan said Tuesday. “That’s five-year, 10-year plan stuff.”

Duncan also floated the possibility of selling the Juvenile Justice Building on Fourth Street in the future and constructing courtrooms and office space off the north side of the Juvenile Detention Center in Dalton Gardens.

“They would no longer have to transport juveniles,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office has proposed consolidating several bureaus, such as record storage, into the Hayden building formerly occupied by Kootenai Electric Cooperative. The county purchased the property several years ago, dubbing it Kootenai North. It’s expected to be ready for use by December.

If approved by the county, the move is expected to cost approximately $414,000 and free up about 30,000 square feet of space for other county uses, according to KCSO.

Sheriff Bob Norris told commissioners last month that the space would allow for growth and could likely accommodate his agency’s needs for about 20 years.

“I don’t want to close the door on a motor vehicle or driver’s license window there,” Duncan said Tuesday. “But that could be years down the line.”

Commissioner Bill Brooks criticized the estimated cost of the expansion, which has grown to more than $30 million.

“The final cost of the justice building will be north of $50 million,” he said. “I’d be shocked if it weren’t.”

Brooks has long argued that the $24 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that Kootenai County commissioners set aside last year for the expansion should be spent on expanding the overcrowded county jail, though federal guidelines forbid using ARPA funds to expand jail capacity in response to an increased crime rate or need for physical distancing.

Commissioner Bruce Mattare also expressed concerns about the price tag.

“I recognize the challenges with the space and this building has kind of crept up in expense and there has to be some line in the sand,” he said.

Duncan, a longtime proponent of the justice center expansion, emphasized that the county has more judges than courtrooms, which has created a case backlog. She has maintained that the project is years overdue.

“At this point, I don’t see how we’re going to get around it,” Duncan said. “The justices can absolutely sue the county for not providing them with adequate facilities.”