Column: A standalone law enforcement center…interesting idea
By Dan Kontos
In a recent move by Portage County Sheriff Mike Lukas, one borne out of frustration I’m sure, he proposed that the County consider constructing a standalone law enforcement center to replace the current inadequate building across from the courthouse.
This comes on the heels of the decision by the County Board to move the county’s campus to a new green field site but then failed to fund the project.
To even casual observers, this decades-long argument seems to be just another rendition of Groundhog Day. No, I’m not going to rehash all the details about location and need. You can go back and read some of my past columns if you want some insight into that. The need is not up for debate here, it just isn’t.
Just for clarification, the law enforcement center (often referred to as the LEC) would be the home of the sheriff’s office, jail, juvenile detention center, dispatch center, emergency management, and emergency medical services coordinator. An important piece of county government, for sure.
The ultimate fix, agreed to by the County Board, creates a new set of modern structures housing the bulk of the functions of the county on one campus. This includes, among other things, a connected jail and courthouse to securely and safely transport prisoners back and forth to jail and the courts.
The Board agreed to build on an open site, but couldn’t get the supermajority needed for the funding.
The rub comes to the fact that the law requires the courthouse to be within the corporate limits of the county seat for each county, namely the city of Stevens Point in this case. The law specifically allows for the Jail to be built outside of the county seat, and there are no restrictions on the rest of the LEC’s location. More on this in a moment.
The concept of a stand alone LEC is an interesting one. With the active opposition by the city for anything but a downtown campus, building outside of the city would allow the county to move forward with solving at least part of their problem.
Of course, the same intransigent members of the County Board may oppose the funding for this concept again, with the courts remaining in their current dilapidated and unsafe location, it may be enough to get the required supermajority needed.
Looking out over my political chessboard, I can see some moves that can come of this. First, building within the city limits on a properly sized location would allow for future construction of a courthouse and other offices, after convincing a future Stevens Point administration of the value of this option.
This also means that Stevens Point may be able to block any such move with bureaucratic red tape surrounding building permits, etc. While the statutes grant counties tremendous authority and exempts them from many minor impediments, this may certainly lead to litigation. No one wants that.
So, what about building outside of the city limits?
A sufficiently sized site built just outside of the city would allow for future construction of a courthouse and other offices, after the annexation by a future Stevens Point administration. This would be the long ball option. In the meantime, a standalone LEC is not unheard of, and is the case in many Wisconsin counties today.
While not ideal, the biggest impediment would be transporting prisoners to court. Currently, a deputy is required to walk an inmate across the street, and a more remote option would mean driving them there instead. A bit more labor intensive and expensive, but overall, very doable.
The next option would be to locate a sufficiently sized site for, again, future county construction, and skip the annexation by the city. The county could actually change the county seat. The change would require a simple majority vote on a referendum. The hard part would be to obtain the signatures of at least two-fifths of the legal voters of the county. That is also possible, but a big lift.
Stevens Point has not always been the county seat. It used to be the village of Plover. The highway department is currently located in Plover. Just sayin’. The parks department is also not in the city — it is located in the Town of Hull. It’s not that farfetched to consider. I wonder what the nearly two-thirds of the voters who don’t live in the city think?
This will be an interesting idea to watch. The proposal to develop a cost and concept plan recently passed the county’s Space and Properties Committee. This is the first of many steps that would be needed, but remember that the concept for a green space LEC have already been developed. We’ll keep an eye on this one.
So, with that, let’s meet in the opinion section to talk about all of it, boldly, honestly, with a real visionary eye, and a healthy respect for each other. Until then, God bless.