Renovations recommended for probation department
Unanticipated road blocks prevent move out of Courthouse
County officials have abandoned plans to move the Adult Probation Department into the neighboring Courthouse Commons Building. File photo
MEDINA – County officials have backed off a plan to move the Adult Probation Department to an office building across the street and instead are considering renovating the space the department now occupies in the basement of the old County Courthouse.
County Administrator Scott Miller said the county has asked Silling Architects to inspect the space the probation department now occupies to determine if it can be renovated in a way that better suits the needs of those who work there. Silling is the same company that designed a $13.4 million plan to renovate and expand the courthouse in 2008 that was abandoned when county operating revenue plummeted following the Great Recession.
County commissioners had been considering moving probation officers into the Courthouse Commons building, whose owners Mark Dorman and Tracey Green had offered to sell the building to the county for $1.6 million or lease the third floor to the Adult Probation Department.
Miller said the county prepared a five-year lease agreement for the space, but that option was taken off the table when the building owners put “conditions on the lease the county could not accept.” Adult Probation Officer Veronica Perry said she thinks the building owners developed second thoughts about having probationers continually entering and leaving the building.
The city of Medina also placed another obstacle in the way of that plan by not immediately granting the county a waiver to an agreement the county had made to keep all court functions on the present site when the city agreed to building the parking deck behind the courthouse in 2009.
Perry said the probation department has been looking for alternative office space for a year, but now thinks renovating the existing space is in the best interest of the county and the most economical alternative.
Adult Probation has a staff of 20 people occupying makeshift offices formed in a warren of hallways and tunnels in the basement of the original county courthouse building. Staff size has more than doubled since Perry joined the department in 2000. The staff supervises about 1,000 probationers a year.
According to Perry, crowding is an issue for her department but privacy is a bigger problem since probation officers often have to do confidential interviews in rooms shared with other staffers. She said tearing down some existing walls and building new ones could result in a floor plan that uses the existing space more efficiently.
County commissioners have discussed revisiting the entire courthouse expansion plan in the last couple of years, but have not yet decided to move forward with it.
Last year, County Commissioner Pat Geissman recommended commissioners place a 0.25 percent sales tax on the ballot to increase revenue for social services and free up general fund money to do the courthouse expansion. The sales tax proposal was postponed with the understanding it would be reconsidered this year. However, Miller said county officials have not discussed the sales tax in any more detail and a sales tax issue will not appear on the May primary ballot.
Miller also said moving forward with the courthouse expansion is largely dependent on an increase in sales tax revenue and is not likely to happen this year.
County Administrator Scott Miller said the county has asked Silling Architects to inspect the space the probation department now occupies to determine if it can be renovated in a way that better suits the needs of those who work there. Silling is the same company that designed a $13.4 million plan to renovate and expand the courthouse in 2008 that was abandoned when county operating revenue plummeted following the Great Recession.
County commissioners had been considering moving probation officers into the Courthouse Commons building, whose owners Mark Dorman and Tracey Green had offered to sell the building to the county for $1.6 million or lease the third floor to the Adult Probation Department.
Miller said the county prepared a five-year lease agreement for the space, but that option was taken off the table when the building owners put “conditions on the lease the county could not accept.” Adult Probation Officer Veronica Perry said she thinks the building owners developed second thoughts about having probationers continually entering and leaving the building.
The city of Medina also placed another obstacle in the way of that plan by not immediately granting the county a waiver to an agreement the county had made to keep all court functions on the present site when the city agreed to building the parking deck behind the courthouse in 2009.
Perry said the probation department has been looking for alternative office space for a year, but now thinks renovating the existing space is in the best interest of the county and the most economical alternative.
Adult Probation has a staff of 20 people occupying makeshift offices formed in a warren of hallways and tunnels in the basement of the original county courthouse building. Staff size has more than doubled since Perry joined the department in 2000. The staff supervises about 1,000 probationers a year.
According to Perry, crowding is an issue for her department but privacy is a bigger problem since probation officers often have to do confidential interviews in rooms shared with other staffers. She said tearing down some existing walls and building new ones could result in a floor plan that uses the existing space more efficiently.
County commissioners have discussed revisiting the entire courthouse expansion plan in the last couple of years, but have not yet decided to move forward with it.
Last year, County Commissioner Pat Geissman recommended commissioners place a 0.25 percent sales tax on the ballot to increase revenue for social services and free up general fund money to do the courthouse expansion. The sales tax proposal was postponed with the understanding it would be reconsidered this year. However, Miller said county officials have not discussed the sales tax in any more detail and a sales tax issue will not appear on the May primary ballot.
Miller also said moving forward with the courthouse expansion is largely dependent on an increase in sales tax revenue and is not likely to happen this year.