Iowa City, Johnson County approve shared study to explore joint law enforcement facility

Iowa City and Johnson County will jointly fund a study to explore whether the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa City Police Department can share a single law enforcement facility.

The City Council on Feb. 4 approved a cost‑sharing agreement to pay half of an initial $63,800 plus expenses proposal for the study; the county will hold the consultant contract. City Manager Jeff Run told the council the work would explore “the efficiencies, cost savings, benefits, etcetera, of pursuing a joint law enforcement center,” and emphasized that “this is really just the study to explore the efficiencies of working together on the facility.”

The consultant team will be led by Shive Hattery (the county’s space study lead) with the city’s consultant, OPN, serving as a subconsultant to ensure city data are included. The study will assess programmatic needs, staffing and operational overlaps, and preliminary site suitability. City staff identified the former public works corner at Riverside Drive and Highway 6 (adjacent to the transit building) as the primary site to be evaluated; the study will screen that site for constraints including past environmental work, floodplain considerations and FAA issues because of airport proximity.

The city manager estimated a five‑ to six‑month timeline to complete the study and return results to both the council and the county later in the summer. Run and councilors stressed the exercise is exploratory and nonbinding; any decision to build, select a site or change operations would require further approvals. Run said the study is “very non‑committal after that,” meaning the work is intended to inform—not commit—their next steps.

Some council discussion flagged site‑use preferences. One council member told colleagues they were “not for placing a facility” at the Riverside/Highway 6 corner and urged the city to consider alternative, high‑visibility uses for that city‑owned site; councilors agreed that, if the site proves unsuitable, the study will provide parameters the city and county can use to look for other properties.

Council members also asked whether the study would examine shared staff or other partnership models; city staff said the scope will look broadly at opportunities to share resources short of merging the two agencies. The county retains ownership of the existing jail; the study will not make recommendations about reusing the current county jail property.

The resolution passed in a 5–0 vote with one recusal. The study is expected to generate cost, program and site parameters that will guide any future, formal decisions by elected leaders.