Shelby County staff give construction update on Mental Health Safety and Justice Center; questions remain on operations

Shelby County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Dorcas Young Griffin and Public Works Director Cliff Norville told commissioners on Tuesday that the Shelby County Mental Health Safety and Justice Center project is moving into early construction activity, but county leaders do not yet have a finalized plan for operating the facility once built.

Young Griffin said the project has a history of previous commission actions: two resolutions for initial design funding (one cited as December 2023 for $2,500,000), a design consultant contract with A2H passed in August 2024 for $1,700,000, and a construction-manager-at-risk (CMAR) contract with Flynn Co. for roughly $18,600,000 approved in November 2024. "We have been meeting regularly... project stakeholders [include] the CAO's office, public works, community services, the public defender and corrections," Young Griffin said.

Public Works Director Cliff Norville reviewed planned site work and building design details. He said construction documents are about 30% complete and that an early-release package for earthwork, storm drainage and erosion control had been issued; the CMAR would enlist subcontractors and ABES was identified on the project for earthwork. Norville said the site has utility lines that affected placement and that a building identified as the "Z Building" was scheduled for demolition. "The wrecking ball is supposed to show up... and so that will be leveled," he said.

Norville described the building layout as three major areas: a public north entry with administrative offices and attorney spaces; a mechanical/electrical/HVAC core; and residential treatment pods. "As we said when we originally began this project, we were targeting 60 beds," Norville said, adding that the design counts individual bedrooms for 60 beds, with some double-occupancy rooms and pods housing 14 or 16 individuals. The design includes day rooms, an exterior courtyard between pods, multi-use treatment rooms and attorney-consult rooms in the center of the facility.

On schedule, staff said an initial earthwork early-release package issued last week; another early-release package for concrete, steel and infrastructure is expected toward July, with a 100% construction-document deliverable in September 2025. Construction is scheduled to run from July 2025 to near the end of fiscal 2026 with substantial completion target of December 2026.

Several commissioners asked about stakeholder involvement and operating costs. Commissioner Sugarman pressed for continued commissioner participation in groundbreakings and requested that specialty-court judges be included in design discussions; Young Griffin said judges were not part of the design because the facility is intended to divert pre-adjudication individuals and that judges have not been at the table but said commissioners and the sheriff had been included. On operational funding, Young Griffin said the county has not yet determined annual operating costs: "I can't answer the question of how much it will cost," she said. She noted most capital funding for the project is ARPA dollars and said discussions about operations would follow capital work.

Commissioner Mills asked whether a mental-health clinician had been involved; Young Griffin said the division of community services' behavioral health unit, including Tiffany Hilson (deputy administrator and clinician), participated in planning.

The presentation closed with staff inviting commissioners to future updates; Commissioner Wright asked staff to return in August or September with more information on likely operating costs. Ending: County staff reported demolition and early-site work will begin imminently and delivered a design and schedule update; they committed to return with further operational details in follow-up briefings.