Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
County moves ahead on cost estimate
Adding space to juvenile justice, detention facilities end goal of expansion
ROGERS — Benton County will use a professional firm to verify how much it will cost to provide more space for the county’s criminal justice system.
The Quorum Court voted 15-0 to appropriate $21,500 from the county’s capital projects fund for a cost estimate for a proposed expansion of its Juvenile Justice Center and the adjacent Juvenile Detention Center in Bentonville Thursday.
County Judge Barry Moehring said the Rogers-based architecture firm Hight Jackson Associates will prepare the estimate for the project — along with programming and a design — as part of a contract with the county.
“I think they’re going to need around 60 days or so to come back with an estimate for this, and as they come back with an estimate, then we’ll feel more confident and comfortable putting those two facilities out for bid,” Moehring said.
Moehring said Wednesday the project would seek to add two courtrooms at the Juvenile Justice Center that would handle criminal dockets in circuit court. It would also provide more office space for both the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office and Juvenile Probation Office, as well as public space. The center would be renamed to reflect these changes.
The project would add eight rooms and 12 beds to the Juvenile Detention Center, as well as remodel the facility’s kitchen.
Holly Foster, director of the juvenile detention center, previously said the facility has 17 rooms that can hold up to 22 youths. Five of the rooms are double-bunked.
On Wednesday, Moehring attributed the project to the population growth the county is currently experiencing. He said Benton County will attempt to acquire another circuit court judge position in the 2025 Arkansas legislative session, who would then be elected in 2026 and sworn in Jan. 1, 2027.
“That judge would almost certainly have a criminal docket,” Moehring said. “We’re behind on our criminal caseload right now.”
Moehring told the county Finance Committee in a presentation at its Jan. 9 meeting that the Benton County Circuit Court district has the highest number of cases per judge of all the 28 circuit court districts in the state. This is despite Christine Howart being sworn in in 2021 for the then-newly created Division 7 circuit judge position.
Moehring said the two new courtrooms would house the Division II Circuit Court judge and the new judge that would come on board in 2027. The expansion project is estimated to add about 25,000 square feet to the Juvenile Justice Center and about 4,000 square feet to the Juvenile Detention Center.
“I can’t tell you that I’ve got a full-on design yet, that we know exactly how much space it’s going to require or that we know exactly what it’s going to cost,” Moehring said.
Moehring said Hight Jackson Associates won a request for qualifications the county put out for architecture firms for the project earlier in February. It beat out five other firms.
Moehring said the county estimates the Juvenile Justice Center expansion will cost about $12.5 million while the Juvenile Detention Center expansion will cost about $2.5 million. Moehring included a $1 million contingency to the project in his presentation to the Finance Committee in January, bringing the county’s total estimate to about $16 million.
The county can fund the project with the proceeds from selling its Divisions II and VI circuit court buildings, which have a value that’s been appraised at about $6.5 million and $4.65 million respectively, according to Moehring. The remaining money — about $4.85 million — would come from the county’s capital projects fund.
Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 8, sponsored the ordinance appropriating the $21,500 for the cost estimate for Hight Jackson Associates.
Jones said Benton County will need another circuit court judge — and have a courtroom for that judge — as it continues to grow. Expanding the Juvenile Justice Center and Juvenile Detention Center will provide the county additional capacity to handle the growth it’s seeing, he said.