Commissioners to consider jail proposal

The Flathead County commissioners will hold a work session at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, to further discuss buying the Weyerhaeuser property in Columbia Falls for a potential jail site.

The county has a buy-sell agreement to purchase the “Cedar Palace” office complex for $2.6 million, and has put down $130,000 in earnest money toward the potential purchase. That agreement expires Oct. 31.

County Administrator Mike Pence said he expects the commissioners to discuss the logistics of building a new jail off-site from the county campus where the existing jail is part of the Justice Center. If the county were to expand its existing jail it wouldn’t provide a long-term solution to jail overcrowding, Pence said.

“If we do an add-on, in 30 to 40 years we’d have to address it,” he said.

And whether the county builds a new jail one mile or 15 miles from the Justice Center, the logistics of transporting prisoners are the same, Pence said.

The commissioners will allow 15 minutes of public comment before diving into their work session.

Opposition against building a jail in Columbia Falls was voiced loud and clear during a public meeting in that city last week. More than 100 attended that meeting. Concerns ranged from the stigma of having a jail in their town to the economic impact of taking the property off the tax rolls.

A second meeting was held a day later at the Courthouse in Kalispell; that session drew less public comment, though some speakers were Columbia Falls area residents who had voiced opposition at the first meeting. About 40 to 50 people attended that meeting.

The public meetings were part of the county commissioners’ due-diligence efforts regarding the potential purchase of about 24 acres of Weyerhaeuser property in Columbia Falls that includes a 35,000-square-foot office complex and a data center building at 500 12th Ave. W. The acreage is zoned for light industrial development.

The county has been saving money for a new jail for several years and this summer opened a $1.6 million, 40-bed addition to the existing jail as a temporary fix until plans for a new jail can be solidified. Space on the second floor of the Justice Center that previously housed the County Attorney offices was converted for the addition.

From the county’s perspective, the Weyerhaeuser property does have attractive features. Sewer service already runs past the property and water is only a few hundred feet away. The county would pay for city sewer and water and the hookup fees.

The commissioners have considered other sites for a jail. The county owns about 40 acres of land off Willow Glen Drive and about 14 acres at the south end of Kalispell at a former grain and feed business. Evergreen may be an option, too, and that community voiced support for a jail when the county was considering the former Wal-Mart site for a jail facility.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.