Columbia County Commissioners to Move Offices Out of Courthouse

DAYTON--The Board of County Commissioners has signed a two-year lease to rent space next to the Columbia County Courthouse, formerly occupied by Manila Bay Restaurant. The Commissioners will move their offices and meeting room into the new space this spring.

The move is designed to make room for Columbia County District Court to move from its current location at the Port of Columbia to the courthouse.

"The savings would be considerable, and it will be better for the Sheriff's response time." Commissioner Norm Passmore said.

In February, the commissioners and the county department managers began talks about consolidating offices, to provide for better efficiency and to produce cost savings for the taxpayer.

The discussion centered around some safety issues at the current District Court building, due to faulty radio repeaters, which could cause the disruption to internet service at that building for 2-3 days, according to county IT Manager Tim Dyke. The cost to upgrade the system would cost around $60,000, Passmore said.

The aging HVAC system at the courthouse and the aging county jail facility were also discussed. Facilities Manager Dave Finney said the HVAC system was purchased in 1994 and was designed to last for 20-30 years.

"It has reached the end of its life," he said. "It will cost around $600,000 to replace the HVAC system and $150-200,000 just to keep it functional."

Finney said he had the heating coils replaced at the jail in February because they wouldn't hold coolant.

"There are too many leaks," he said. "There was an underground water line break in January, and the system was down one-and-a-half to two weeks."

Civil Deputy Tim Quade said the county jail was built by J. Polly & Sons in 1875, and is one of only two in existence. The other one is in a museum. Female inmates from the county are being housed in Garfield County because they can't be housed separately from male inmates at the county jail.

County Prosecutor Rea Culwell pointed out that there were more felony arrests in 2017, and those inmates are housed elsewhere.

"Everything is done on video. They only process arraignments and sentencing in person," she said.

Sheriff Rocky Miller has run some numbers on the cost of housing Columbia County inmates elsewhere, which is based on 2017 jail hours.

His figures show the cost to house 3,232 inmate days in Garfield County is $145,440, which is the least expensive option. The most expensive option is housing inmates in Benton County. The cost for that is $384,608.00.

"It was an eye opener," said Commissioner Passmore, after he looked at the figures. "It takes money to house people."

Passmore said a possibility for the long term, is to move both courts, the Sheriff's department and the jail to a new law and justice facility. This could be done by converting a building curently owned by the county, which is close to Seneca Foods, Inc.

The BOCC looked into building a new jail 12 years ago and at that time the cost was around $6 million.

There is much to consider, but for now moving the BOCC out and the District Court in, is a first step. It will take a few months to retrofit the District Court for security and safety, and work will be done in conjunction with other safety measures at the courthouse, Passmore said.

"This will give the county time to figure it out, and we will be eating this elephant one bite at a time," said Commissioner Jackson at the February meeting.