Here's what the county government is eyeing for 2024

CENTREVILLE – A courts building renovation project, talked about since 2014 but perpetually put off, is finally going to happen in 2024.

The estimated $7.7 million renovation highlights what to expect from St. Joseph County government in the coming 12 months. A trio of top county officials – board chairman Ken Malone, administrator Teresa Doehring and finance director Angie Steinman – shared their thoughts on what to anticipate in the coming year.

Courts renovations

As its name implies, the 50-year-old courts building houses circuit, district and probate/family court operations. The courts building is at the south end of the courthouse campus and connected to the county’s historic courthouse by an interior breezeway.

Doehring started discussion of the topic with a bit of levity.

“How many times have we done these (look-ahead to the new year interviews) and I’d mention we’re hoping to finally move forward on the courts building project?” Doehring asked rhetorically.

A portion of the work has already started, as a new roof was added over the majority of the courts building over the fall. Passersby may have noticed materials and construction-related equipment staged in the parking lot on the west side of the courthouse. Steinman said a few components of the $455,000 roof job still need to be addressed but the most critical part of the task has been completed.

Meanwhile, Doehring called the impending interior renovation the most significant upgrade since the courts building opened in the mid-1970s.

“Hopefully late spring/early summer we’ll be starting on that project,” Doehring said. “Just because of how we’re going to have to phase that and move departments – we can’t just shut down court operations, obviously – there will be some work involved getting people and operations in the right, temporary places.”

Renovation will impact all three floors of the courts building, affecting more than 36,000-square-feet in total. The plan includes a small addition to the south end of the building with the intent of providing a new sally port for in-custody inmates brought into the building for court-related proceedings.

During an August 2022 tour of the courts building, Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman showed county commissioners and county officials disintegrating ceiling tiles, water-damaged ceiling tiles and hallway walls, an embarrassingly small and outdated juror room, the lack of ADA-compliant doors, paneling peeling away from a wall in his courtroom, worn and outdated chairs and tables, carpet originally laid when the building was new, thin-walled bathrooms and no shortage of other flaws.

Three Rivers Courts Campus

Set to open by May, a stand-alone building will serve as the new location for Friend of the Court and Probate/Family/Juvenile Court operations.

The county in 2022 purchased the former Three Rivers Library for $175,000. Groundbreaking for the $6.5 million renovation took place this past summer and work is progressing without any major hiccups.

Workers are remodeling 20,000-square-feet while leaving another 2,000-square-feet available for future needs.

County officials said relocating Friend of the Court and Probate/Family/Juvenile Court operations to Three Rivers will provide much-needed breathing room at the Centreville campus.

Doehring acknowledged a fair amount of logistics will have to be mapped out over the first quarter of 2024 in advance of the seven-mile relocation west to Three Rivers. More than two dozen employees help staff the two departments.

Jail doors

The third of three major projects the county is authorizing centers on replacement of jail doors and the control room at the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department.

Three Rivers-based Brussee/Brady is overseeing the $528,400 project, which will involve the laborious task of removing doors and frames from existing masonry openings.

Project officials said the overhaul will move the locking mechanism into the wall instead of into the door.

The job will start later in the year.

ARPA funds distribution

Steinman said $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds the county allocated to 31 recipients will be fully distributed by the end of 2024.

“All of that has been rolling pretty smoothly so far; I have to report quarterly on every entity that gets money and it’s been a lot of work,” Steinman said. “So, that’s supposed to be obligated and paid out by the end of the year. That’s a process not many see but it’s definitely something that’s happening.”

The county landed $11.8 million through the American Rescue Plan act. In addition to designating more than $1 million toward in-county recipients, the board allocated $4 million toward renovation of the county courts building, $4 million to address future budget shortfalls and $2 million for capital-improvement projects.

The 31 recipients have until the end of 2026 to spend the money.

Contract negotiations

Doehring said contract negotiations with the county’s nine different unions will start again in 2024.

“It seems like we just got all union contracts settled … where does the time go?” Doehring said. “This will be my third negotiation and we’ve been very fortunate. In past years, things went very smoothly, I feel like, in comparison to other places. We’ve worked hard to build and maintain those relationships and that’s what gets us through that process.”

Malone offered his thoughts on the process.

“You always go in, every time, hoping to provide whatever we can within our means,” he said. “We always want to take care of our employees – we are very fortunate to have dedicated employees – but we don’t always have the money we would like to put toward salaries. It’s not a matter of not being willing, it’s a matter of being able to fund salaries.”

Employee compensation study

Doehring said the county budgeted in 2024 to conduct a countywide compensation study. She said the study will center on employee salaries and is a task she recommends occurs every eight to 10 years.

“We are right in that cycle,” she said. “It’s kind of a big project to evaluate all positions, classifications and get market comparisons to make sure we are paying salaries comparable to other, similar-in-size counties.”

Parks and recreation

Malone said he understands parks and recreation director Jaymes MacDonald would like to add more bike trails within the county’s parks.

“We have beautiful parks and they’re all very well used,” Malone said before adding general thoughts as his first year as chairman of the seven-member county board comes to a close. “It’s a situation being on the board where you’re thankful for what you’re able to accomplish, yet it’s a situation where you can’t control all the outcomes every time.”

Regarding the current and upcoming renovation projects, Malone had more to say.

“We’re looking forward to the work being done, I think more so than the employees are,” Malone, a Sturgis resident, added. “We want to make sure we can position future commissions that things that come up aren’t going to be because we let some things slide.”

The county commission has called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Jan. 2 to establish its meeting dates for 2024 and select its chairman and vice-chair for the year.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Here's what the county government is eyeing for 2024