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County drops plan to use Justice Center hallway for voting; 90% building plans due next week
Summary
A county building committee decided not to use a proposed hallway near the eastern entrance and jury selection room for voting after legal and security concerns; the county plans a page‑by‑page review of 90% construction plans next week and expects construction to start in August.
Scott, a county staff member, told the committee the building committee and the county attorney concluded the county should not use a new eastern entrance hallway and adjoining jury-selection area in the Justice Center for voting.
“At the building committee meeting, that was determined not to utilize the building for voting anymore,” Scott said, citing an opinion from the county attorney. He said County Attorney Brad Stern wrote that allowing public access into the Justice Center without passing through security would not be an allowable use and could create security and intimidation concerns for court operations.
Scott said county staff informed the clerk’s office and will work with the municipal clerk to identify alternate polling locations. He noted the next potential election date is Feb. 2026 if a primary is required; otherwise, the contest would be April 2026.
Scott gave a schedule for the campus construction: the county expects to publish 90% construction documents for review next week, hold a “page turn” line‑by‑line review with the architect, electrical and mechanical teams, then put the project out to bid in June with bids due July 1. He said a mandatory pre‑bid walkthrough is planned for June 11 and that construction could start as early as August, with an estimated three phases of roughly five months each and completion around November 2026.
Scott emphasized phasing to keep the building open during most work: “The phasing plan is so that we're gonna try to the building will stay open throughout during the whole thing. There will be no multiple disruption services in that time.” He warned, however, that construction will be noisy.
No formal action to change the master plan was taken at this meeting; staff said they will continue to refine the 90% plans and welcome public review at the upcoming page‑turn meeting.
