Will there be a new government center in downtown Wichita, or are costs too high?
Sedgwick County commissioners got their first look at a $45-$50 million plan to create a new government center and came away with sticker shock.
The proposal unveiled Tuesday is the latest in a years-long saga as the county tries to deal with the need for more governmental office space to free up space in the courthouse for courts.
The plan envisions a five-level building — four stories plus basement — that would be adjacent to and connected with the existing courthouse. The proposal is to clear space by tearing down part of an existing courthouse annex building just to the north of the main tower at the southwest corner of Main and Elm.
County finance is proposing to fund the project in stages, issuing bonds to borrow about 75 percent of the projected cost up front and filling in with additional borrowing over the five years of construction.
The net gain in office space would be about 67,000 square feet.
The first floor of the proposed building would house an expanded County Commission meeting room, the treasurer’s office where people deal with tax bills, and the courthouse cafe, said Justin Graham of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture, who presented the actual building plan.
On the other floors:
▪ The second level would house information technology, the register of deeds and the county clerk departments.
▪ The third level would have finance, human resources and facilities departments.
▪ The fourth level would house the commissioners’ offices along with the county manager and county counselor staffs.
▪ Records and the county data center would be in the basement.
To make room for a new building, Elm — the street just north of the courthouse — would need to be narrowed from the current two lanes with parking on both sides of the street to two lanes with parking on only one side, said Justin Graham of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture.
Or Elm could be eliminated entirely, leaving a strip of green space for picnic tables where employees could relax during breaks or eat lunch.
But two commissioners balked at the cost of the plan and had their own suggestions for how the county should proceed to meet, or possibly reduce, its space needs.
Commissioner Lacey Cruse suggesting the money could be better spent on mental health and drug treatment programs to reduce pressure on the space needs of the court system.
And Commissioner Michael O’Donnell said he wants to reopen what has so far been a stop-and-go process of trying to buy an existing downtown building and remodeling to meet the county’s space needs.
He said that offers the best chance of getting the most space for the dollar and bringing all the county government functions under the same roof, which would clear space in the courthouse for solely court functions.
It would have the added advantage that people doing business with county government wouldn’t have to be security screened as they are at the courthouse.
Average citizens “don’t like coming to my office because they feel like they’re going through TSA at the airport,” O’Donnell said.
The county government has nibbled around the issue of office space for more than a decade, shifting some departments out to leased space and clearing room for prosecutors by moving some sheriff’s operations to the nearby jail building.
But District Attorney Marc Bennett said no matter what prosecutors and judges do to try to divert people away from the courts, there will still be a need for more court space.
Recent years have seen the development of some special courts dealing specifically with drug issues, mental health sufferers and veterans.
But while those efforts can successfully reduce the prison population, they still need in still are going to need space to operate, Bennett said.
“There’s a front-loaded component to this where we have to have adequate court space,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a one or the other.”
Assistant County Manager Tania Cole said the space issue needs to be resolved before the state fulfills its plan to provide more judges to Sedgwick County.
“If they have a judge that comes on, we have no space to put a judge,” she said.
Commission Chairman Pete Meitzner, a recent addition to the commission along with Cruse, asked staff to provide the newer members with information on plans that have been considered before.
Later, he said he wants to consider taking a “baby steps” approach to the county’s space needs rather than doing it all at once in one major project.
Commissioner David Dennis appeared visibly frustrated, saying that the proposals O’Donnell wants to consider have been considered several times and been rejected as inadequate.
The county came close to purchasing a building, but ultimately backed away due to lack of adequate parking, high renovation costs on top of the purchase price, or both, he said.
Since then, discussions have focused on creating a “campus enviroment” at the site of the current courthouse.
“We’ve been plowing the same ground over and over and nothing’s grown yet,” Dennis said. “We need to make a decision at some point . . . We’re getting paid to make a decision.”
He added that while an existing building might save some money up front over new construction, a brand new building could be designed from the start to meet the county’s needs and would have lower future maintenance costs.
“If we’re just going to go by what it costs per square foot (on the purchase price), we’re going to be very, very shortsighted,” he said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 1:57 PM.
