Monroe County hears schedule, milestones for new justice center; residents press concerns about jail site and future use

Monroe County Council heard a timeline update Feb. 25 for the proposed combined sheriff’s office, jail and justice center and received public comment urging the council to reconsider building details, site selection and bed count.

Scott Carnegie, project manager with DLZ, told the council the project has completed early site and environmental work and is moving from predesign toward schematic design. “We started the predesign phase for the justice facility on April 17,” Carnegie said, and he listed near‑term milestones: presentation of the predesign package to the combined commissioners and council on Feb. 27, a planned close on the North Park property in February 2025, schematic design in April 2025, a construction bid period in May 2026, construction start in July 2026 and substantial completion targeted for March 2029.

Why it matters: the project is one of the county’s largest capital undertakings in years and will shape operating costs, staffing needs and long‑term debt. Council members said they need clearer data on construction and operational cost risk before committing to later budget steps.

Councilors pressed the project team for clarifications. Councilor Iverson called the handout “fantastic” and asked that the schedule be filed in the meeting minutes; he said the council will need detailed answers on potential overruns, staffing and long‑term operational costs at Thursday’s follow‑up presentation. Carnegie and Chris Scioli of Weddell Brothers (construction management) said the team anticipates roughly 30 months of construction for the scale envisioned and described a plan to run the jail and justice center work concurrently to share a labor force and shorten overall duration.

Resident comment: Seth Muchler, a Monroe County resident, used the public‑comment period to oppose the new jail and to urge councilors to reassess the North Park site. “I continue to not support the new jail,” Muchler said. He urged council members to consider how any facility could be used in the future and to think about whether the site would place the jail out of scale with downtown and community access.

Council direction and next steps: the council and project team agreed to present the predesign package again at a joint meeting with the commissioners on Feb. 27 and to return to the council with updated cost estimates at each design milestone. Councilors asked staff to keep the schedule updated at each milestone and to provide focused answers Thursday on workforce, pre‑bid assumptions and operational staffing projections.