Yuba sheriff’s new home scheduled to open in June

After years of setbacks trying to find a new headquarters, the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office is set to host a grand opening June 2 for its $20 million facility in Marysville.

“This is truly a historic moment for the community and the sheriff’s department,” Sheriff Steven Durfor said. “This gives us all something to be

proud of. For the public, the new facility will be much more accommodating. To the men and women of the sheriff’s department, this has been much overdue.”

The new department will be at Seventh and Yuba streets in Marysville – where Caltrans used to be before it moved into its new building on the other side of the railroad tracks.

The facility is approximately 55,000 square feet, which gave the department enough room to design and renovate the entire facility to meet its needs. About 10,000 square feet will be unused space initially, which Durfor said will provide plenty of room to grow.

“With this new facility, I don’t think the topic of relocating will be visited again for at least another 50 years from now, long after my time is done here,” Durfor said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 11 a.m. June 2. YCSO won’t officially begin operating out of the facility until June 5, when the dispatch center is switched from the current facility to the new one just a few blocks away.

Once dispatch has successfully transitioned, Durfor said the rest of the department will be moved over incrementally.

“I’m tremendously excited to have a building that is representative of all the hard work this entire sheriff’s department puts forth everyday,” Durfor said.

Around 2005, Durfor said the conversation about needed improvements started circulating around the department. The initial idea was to use funds for needed remodeling at the current facility, but at a certain point Durfor and his team realized that if they were going to spend that kind of money, a better option might be to relocate.

YCSO has been head- quartered in the Yuba County Superior Courthouse since it was built in 1962. During its 55 years, the department – which occupies different portions of the building from the basement to the third floor – has made due with the limited space the facility provides.

Durfor said the department had basically outgrown the current facility. A quick tour of the building corroborates his sentiment.

Some offices look more like converted closets. Narrow corridors make it difficult to navigate. The evidence processing room provides barely enough room for one person to actually process evidence. Records and files are spread throughout the entire building, many “organized” into stacked boxes.

Jerry Read, former undersheriff and current project manager for the new facility, said there were initial setbacks involving efforts to relocate. The first proposed site fell through the cracks because of environmental regulations. But when Read saw the former Caltrans building become vacant, he knew it would be the perfect place.

“It’s been a difficult road, with seemingly one thing after the other getting in our way,” Read said. “But I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is a relief.”

To pay for the new facility, the sheriff’s department used a variety of funding sources, including county, state and federal monies.

Designs and renovations to the new facility have been ongoing for about three years, Read said. Each floor of the new facility was designed in a way that allows for a more accommodating work environment.

Overall, the new facility will provide the department the space it needs to operate efficiently, Durfor said.

With less than two weeks until its grand opening, Durfor said it took a team effort all around to finish the job. Still, he said it wouldn’t have been possible without two individuals in particular – Read and Undersheriff Ron Johnson.

“I cannot say enough about what they’ve done, everything from planning and designs to picking the paint colors. They’ve both gone above and beyond to get this done. We would still be waiting around for a grand opening if it weren’t for them,” Durfor said.