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Judicial planner: New courthouse ‘desperately’ needed




The final report from a South Carolina-based judicial planning firm has recommended building a new $78 million courthouse for Sumner County in downtown Gallatin. SUBMITTED

The final report from a South Carolina-based judicial planning firm has recommended building a new $78 million courthouse for Sumner County in downtown Gallatin. SUBMITTED

Sumner County’s court buildings are “extremely inefficient” while the existing courthouse is “dangerous,” according to the head of a South Carolina-based judicial planning firm hired to study the facilities.

The remarks were part of a Justice Planning Associates presentation of the firm’s final report, which was delivered Monday to the Sumner County Commission. The findings were mostly identical to an October interim first reported on by The Gallatin News earlier this year.

“It’s a dangerous building and I almost hesitate to say that in a public meeting,” JPA President Mike Thomas said about the historic courthouse in downtown Gallatin. “That is not a good situation and it hasn’t been a good situation for a long time.”

County leaders voted to hire JPA last year to review its criminal justice and court system facilities following several emergency funding requests for building repair projects.

As part of their study, the firm evaluated each location’s effectiveness and gave it a ranking out of 10. The existing courthouse on the square received the worst score of 2.5 while the jail received the highest score of 6, according to the final report. 

The report also noted that the lack of separate circulation zones in the existing courthouse, which resulted in detainees occasionally being moved through public hallways creating a “significant threat to public safety.”

“All of the services in your court system that are under demand today are going to be under much more demand in the future,” Thomas added. “We desperately need to put them together (because) you have an extremely inefficient court operation.”

As part of their final report, JPA recommended five projects be competed in order to address the county’s current issues and future needs:

  • Project 1: Build a new approximately 209,000-square-foot courthouse with 10 courtrooms and an unfinished shell floor for four additional courts in the future.
  • Project 2: Acquire modular dormitory housing with approximately 48 additional beds for female and juvenile inmates that would include a connection to the main jail and perimeter fencing.
  • Project 3: Renovate and refurbish the existing historic courthouse in downtown Gallatin that would accommodate the Sumner County District Attorney’s Office.
  • Project 4: Relocate the sheriff’s office to the space at the existing Criminal Justice Center that would be vacated by the criminal and general sessions courts as well as the circuit court clerk once the new courthouse is completed.
  • Project 5: Expand the jail into the space currently being used by the sheriff’s office in order to address housing, intake, storage and other needs along with consideration of additional modest expansions.

A list of suggested budgets for each project include $78 million for the construction of a new courthouse, $10 million for the jail and sheriff’s office expansions and $8.1 million for a renovation of the existing courthouse, according to the final report.

With an additional $3.5 million included for potential land acquisition and other miscellaneous expenses, the total recommended budget for all of the projects would top $102 million. However, county officials have stressed the figures could change depending on the design of the building and scope of the projects.

“This is what we suggest you spend,” Thomas said Monday. “You could spend more than this. On a historic building, you can spend as much money as you want. I don’t recommend you do that.

“I’d stick to these numbers that are in here if you can.”

The final report from JPA also identified two preferred locations along East Main Street in downtown Gallatin for a potential new courthouse to be built on if county leaders choose to move forward with the project.

The recommended site would be on the First Baptist Church parking lot and youth ministry building property next to the Gallatin Public Library while the Sumner County Juvenile Courthouse property on the opposite side of the church is listed as an alternative site.

“Our deacons would have to first wrestle with (any offer) and make some sort of proposal to our congregation, which would have to vote on that as a whole,” First Baptist Pastor Travis Fleming told The Gallatin News in March about any potential deal with the county. “But, nothing has been offered to us at this point in time.”

The county’s general operations committee is expected to discuss JPA’s findings and recommendations during its next meeting on June 4, according Commissioner Leslie Schell, who also serves as chairman of the committee. Funding for any project would have to ultimately be approved by the full commission.

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