Study recommends demolishing old jail, relocating health department; Memorial Hall reuse proposed

Consultants and city and county staff presented a joint space-study today that recommends demolishing the city’s old jail, relocating the Saline County health department and pursuing a phased reuse of Memorial Hall while reconfiguring downtown parking and court space.

The study, presented at a joint meeting of the Salina City Commission and the Saline County Board of Commissioners, lays out a multi-decade plan centered on three near-term moves: remove the unused jail, find a new location for the county health department, and begin shifting administrative functions into Memorial Hall if a viable reuse can be secured. “The very first recommendation is to knock down the old jail, and I will say yes. Absolutely, we can afford that. The county has cash on hand for the cost of knocking down the old jail,” said Sean, project consultant, summarizing the consultant team’s recommendations and the county’s preliminary financing analysis.

The nut graf: The report aims to address long-standing space shortages—chiefly for county offices and the police department—while preserving downtown assets. Reuse of Memorial Hall is framed as a possible long-term solution, but consultants and commissioners emphasized the plan’s phased nature, significant cost and a need for concrete developer commitments or voter-backed financing before major work begins.

Study findings and recommendations

Consultants presented six large moves with associated subrecommendations on parking, street alignments and campus definition. Key recommendations include demolishing the old jail (county responsibility), relocating the health department (county decision and potential bond financing) and repurposing the current city-county building into a judicial center while moving administrative, nonjudicial city and county functions into Memorial Hall if feasible.

The study’s cost estimates place a full renovation of Memorial Hall in the roughly $50 million to $60 million range. The consultants and county staff estimated that financing relocation of the health department would generate annual debt payments in the range of $500,000 to $1,000,000 depending on final scope and term. “Depending on whether you take the low estimate of the range or the high estimate and depending on whether you finance it for 10 years or 20 years, the annual payment, at current interest rates is going to be between 500,000 and $1,000,000,” the consultant said.

Timing and phasing

Staff recommended a phased timetable: demolish the old jail this year, work on a health-department relocation over the next four years, and begin moving administrative functions into Memorial Hall in a roughly six- to ten-year window. The recommendation ties major investment timing to the county’s existing jail-bond repayment schedule; the county’s half-cent sales tax supporting the jail bonds is projected to retire earlier than originally planned, potentially opening capacity to fund new projects in the early 2030s.

Police and court space

The police department’s needs were highlighted repeatedly. Staff said an internal reorganization and moving evidence storage into the municipal court basement could address about 70% of current needs in the short term, but detectives and some training/briefing space will require additional room. That extra capacity would come from court services or municipal court space if those functions relocate into a consolidated judicial center.

Memorial Hall: constraints and reuse options

Consultants and staff stressed community preference to preserve Memorial Hall but warned that the building requires substantial investment and has unique structural constraints. “Save Memorial Hall, save Memorial Hall,” Phil, project consultant, said, repeating public input; but he and other speakers noted that finding a developer willing to accept the financial burden has been difficult. Jeff Lane and Cody Parrott, the consultant principals on the project, were present to answer technical questions about cost and code implications.

Troy Reiner from the facilities department addressed building maintenance concerns directly when asked about the roof: “The upper portions of the TPO roof is about 15 years old,” Reiner said, and staff noted the roof and the decommissioned boiler remain maintenance priorities.

Options considered for the old jail, health department and other sites

The study examined several “easy button” options and found drawbacks for each: adding on to the existing building would limit daylight and future expansion; gutting or repurposing the old jail was generally cost-prohibitive compared with new construction; and a food-hall or homeless-shelter reuse for the jail site was either financially nonviable or operationally complex. A senior-housing option for the former health-department site could be viable only if (1) the county clears the land, (2) the health department relocates, and (3) a private developer steps forward.

Fiscal and process notes

Consultants described the study estimates as order-of-magnitude planning-level numbers rather than contract-level construction estimates. They also noted that phased rehabilitation of Memorial Hall would trigger life-safety and ADA upgrades as portions of the building become occupied, increasing incremental cost. Staff said the county has the cash on hand to demolish the old jail and that discussions with bond counsel and financial advisors are ongoing about financing the larger moves.

Next steps

Staff said they will bring the report back separately to the Salina City Commission, the Saline County Board of Commissioners and the Building Authority for further discussion and possible adoption. A county agenda item to sever electrical connections between court services and the old jail is scheduled for the next day and is a prerequisite to demolition. The presenters recommended issuing an RFP or otherwise actively marketing Memorial Hall to prospective developers while continuing internal planning and cost refinement.

Ending

No binding decisions were taken at the study session; commissioners asked for additional cost comparisons, square-footage data and phasing details before committing to any financing or formal transfers of property. The session closed after routine adjournment procedures.