Teton County staff present plan to remove Hansen Courthouse to simplify Justice Center construction; board asks for more detail before final decision

Stefan Hall, an architect with Anderson Maisendale, and county staff presented options to Teton County commissioners on Aug. 25 for the Hansen Courthouse and the county—s new Justice Center project, saying removing the Hansen building now would reduce utility rerouting, improve construction staging and pedestrian safety, and save the county time and money.

Hall summarized the design reasoning and preliminary cost work during the board meeting, saying removing Hansen would "avoid costly rerouting of the sewer line," allow construction access from Simpson instead of Willow Street to protect safe routes to school, and yield a "rough order of magnitude" savings "for the Teton County Justice Center project of roughly 700 ks to a million." He told commissioners the estimate is preliminary and more vetting is needed.

The presentation said keeping Hansen would require major short-term renovations and code-driven work, including a fire-rated wall assembly and snow-drift mitigation measures. Hall said snow baffles alone were preliminarily estimated at roughly $250,000 to $300,000. He also described a sewer reroute option the architect estimated could add roughly $500,000 to the project if Hansen remains in place.

Why this matters: The Justice Center is the county's largest capital project in decades. The county's choice affects construction costs, schedule, the disposition of the existing courthouse as a county real-estate asset, and where municipal, state and federal court functions would operate during construction.

Details of the case load and operational needs were raised by municipal Judge Lee, who said he learned of the potential change the Friday before the meeting and described the Hansen Courthouse—s current use. "Currently, the court is held approximately 36 to 40 weeks per year," Judge Lee said. He detailed caseloads for 2024 (7,304 cases filed, roughly 6,400 parking citations) and noted 2025 year-to-date filings (4,668 cases, roughly 4,000 parking citations), adding that proceedings can draw between 5 and 20 people in person each week. Lee asked for advance notice if Hansen were to be removed, and flagged security and equipment needs if municipal court were to move temporarily to town council chambers.

Tyler Sinclair, the Town of Jackson manager, said the town would work with the county and is "prepared to do that" if municipal court needs to use council chambers, but he cautioned the town has not completed a security or build-out analysis and has not budgeted for those upgrades. Sinclair said the town had previously housed municipal court in council chambers and "we can accommodate it" temporarily but would need more information about costs and security modifications.

County Administrator Jody Pond said staff received the architects' updated engineering assessments during the design phase and that the new information prompted the discussion. Pond framed the discussion as seeking direction: staff have done preliminary stakeholder outreach but "did not want to send the architects down the road of, say, having staff give direction to demolish the Hansen Courthouse without a nod from this group." She said staff could return to the board with more concrete answers.

Commissioners were split on the pace and process. Commissioner Carman said she favored removing Hansen and indicated it likely "would be the best choice for us," and Commissioner Gardner said she supported the idea in principle but wanted answers on municipal court availability, security, and cost sharing before making a final decision. Commissioner Probst urged more systematic outreach to the federal magistrate, district and circuit courts, the marshals, the sheriff and police, and other stakeholders before committing.

The board did not vote to demolish Hansen. Instead, commissioners directed staff to continue stakeholder outreach and return with more concrete answers and a staff report at a future meeting. Staff said the project schedule could be affected if the board delays design decisions after Sept. 8, but that no displacement of occupants would be needed before January.

Clarifying details captured during the presentation include: a preliminary sewer rerouting ROM of roughly $500,000 if Hansen remains; estimated snow-baffle costs at $250,000–$300,000; 9–11 additional parking spaces would be gained if Hansen were removed; and a preliminary project-level ROM savings estimated at $700,000–$1,000,000 if the courthouse is removed. Hall said the ROM savings are preliminary and subject to change.

The board asked staff to return with: (1) a 5-year rolling incident/usage average for court operations rather than a single-year snapshot; (2) a timetable showing when the decision would need to be made to keep the Justice Center schedule intact; (3) options and cost estimates for temporary municipal-court security and technology if the town chambers are used; and (4) outreach results from federal and district judges and the marshal service.

Both the town and county staff said they are willing to work together on short-term accommodations for courts and victim services, and the town indicated preliminary support for the proposed site plan changes from a planning and circulation perspective.

The county did not make a final decision on the fate of Hansen at the Aug. 25 meeting. Staff said they will return with additional analysis and options for formal action at a subsequent meeting.

The meeting record also included a brief wildfire update from Fire Chief Mike Moyer: the Dollar Lake fire in the region was reported as 11,000–12,000 acres with neighboring counties heavily affected. Teton County supplied engines and personnel for initial attack and structure protection efforts.

Ending note: Commissioners signaled they would schedule a follow-up with more detailed staff analysis and judge/agency input before any final decision on Hansen Courthouse demolition is taken.