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County advances data inventory, hires consultants for needs assessment as it explores new justice center
Summary
SRLJC leaders said administrative grant rollovers funded a countywide justice-systems data inventory led by Rebecca and JMI; the county also contracted a needs-assessment firm (Carter Govan Lee) and will run an EPF site-selection process under RCW timelines as it evaluates a proposed justice center with behavioral-health services.
Spokane-area SRLJC members on May 13 outlined next steps for a countywide data inventory and a formal needs assessment tied to possible construction of a new justice center that would emphasize behavioral-health and therapeutic services.
Mike said administrative fees identified when the county moved to Workday were rolled into a data project to inventory how justice systems talk to each other and to identify gaps. “It's basically an evaluation and inventory of all of our justice, you know, systems,” he said, and added Rebecca is the project lead.
Rebecca told the group that JMI began work April 27 and has met with 11 departments so far; juvenile probation and a few municipal partners remain to be interviewed. She said the firm expects to deliver a report in early August with systems-integration recommendations and a month of follow-up support on implementation options.
Separately, Mike described the facilities track: the Safe and Healthy Task Force is considering a new justice center that would integrate behavioral-health programming with detention services. The county is restarting the central public facility siting (EPF) process, which evaluates about 10 candidate sites using a weighted scoring framework established in state law and yields three sites to forward to the Board of County Commissioners. Mike said the consultant Carter Govan Lee (referenced in the meeting as CGL/TGL) is conducting the needs assessment and indicated the firm expects a 3–4 month timeline.
Members asked how the county could run a facilities-location evaluation without a finalized needs assessment. Mike said the team will use placeholder acreage and footprint assumptions based on prior studies (e.g., downtown and airport-site estimates) so the EPF process can begin while the needs assessment finalizes the programmatic footprint. He and Rebecca emphasized they intend to use third-party evaluation to consolidate past study inputs and to present an evidence-based recommendation.
The group agreed to refine scopes of work for both the EPF and the needs assessment, to continue departmental interviews, and to update the core group and BOCC when the consultant report is ready in early August.
