Jeffco to Scale Down Plans for More Courtrooms and Redesign of Atrium

To prepare for projected budget shortfalls in 2012 and 2013, the BCC is already taking steps to save money. Most recently, commissioners approved a scaled-down plan to add courtrooms and redesign the atrium at the Jefferson County Administration & Courts Facility - an action that presents a cost-savings of $1.9 million.
 
Original plans called for the addition of three courtrooms to house three new judicial positions - two in district court and one in county court. While courts are a state function and the judges and their staff are state employees, county governments are required to provide courtrooms as well as space for court administration, parking, security, etc. 
 
There are currently 30 judges and 28 courtrooms. The state had projected the need for additional judicial positions but has yet to fund them because of its own budget shortfalls. County and courts staff met and agreed that state funding for the three judicial positions was uncertain and not expected in the near future. They drew up plans for a scaled-back project to meet the existing judicial staff needs. 
 
In the three-courtroom expansion plan, some court-related services, such as the Victim-Witness Assistance Program, would have been relocated to the administration side of the building, requiring security stations to cover both sides of the first floor. Now, the county will need only one additional courtroom for the near future. Plans to redesign the atrium to accommodate additional security can be delayed, reducing the project's budget by $1.9 million.
 
Under the new $5.65 million plan, workers will add one full-service courtroom. Like the existing courtrooms, the new one will have access to the tunnel connecting courts with the Jeffco Detention Center. That access will be in the area where Pre-Trial Services is currently located on the first floor of the courts side. Pre-Trial Services and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) will move to the south end of the first floor on the administration side, and the Public Trustee will relocate to a portion of the Treasurer's offices on the second floor of the administration side. The Clerk of Courts also will expand into an underused public space on the first floor of the courts side and Court Security will be consolidated on the same side.
 
Several moves have taken place or are currently in process. The Planning & Zoning Division has been consolidated to make room for Community Development, so IT Services Document Production could move to the third floor in the administration building. Human Resources moved from the Laramie Building to the fourth floor of the administration building, so IT Services and Human Resources could relocate to better spaces for their needs. Purchasing shifted on the fourth floor to minimize the remodel for Human Resources.
 
Staff briefed the BCC on the revised courts plan at the staff briefing on June 22, and commissioners gave authorization to proceed.
 
Unrelated to the appointment of additional judges, IT Services just completed a massive undertaking - a phased relocation to the Laramie Building. To accommodate new technology, concerns for security and the county's evolving needs, IT began planning to upgrade and relocate the county's data center away from the main building several years ago. The extraordinary move was completed in early June.

BCC Approves Purchase of Russell Elementary for Head Start
Russell Elementary in Arvada, which closed its doors to Jeffco Public Schools students this summer, may reopen this fall for a new group of children, if the Jeffco R-1 Board of Education approves Jefferson County's purchase of the building as a new location for Head Start.
 
Jeffco Head Start staff briefed commissioners on their due-diligence research into Russell Elementary and requested that the board approve the $2 million purchase, which it did at the board's June 29 hearing. Head Start had been looking for locations to relocate its classroom sites in Arvada, Westminster, Golden and two in Edgewater.
 
The former elementary school opens up a world of new possibilities for Head Start. The current Head Start locations were not as conducive to educating small children. At Russell, children would be in a location that was designed to meet to their needs and encourage their growth. Head Start also could add several enhancements, such as a library, therapeutic classroom and gymnasium at no additional cost.
 
By moving to Russell Elementary, the county would save money on the leasing costs it currently pays for its various locations and increase its space by about 3,000 square feet. Possible funding sources could include some money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds that must be spent before September, and $99,200 in federal earmark money that must be spent before summer 2012. The county also may use some of the savings from downsizing its remodel plans for the Administration & Courts Facility to pay for Russell. This would meet the immediate needs for Head Start while delaying the remodeling plans at the county building, which are not as urgently needed because the state is delaying much of the courts expansion.
 
Head Start would bus children from stops near the current sites to the new site in Arvada, which has the highest percentage of families with young children who live in poverty in the county, according to the 2010 Jefferson County Human Services Community Assessment.
 
The Board of Education will formally decide whether to sell the building to Jefferson County at its next scheduled meeting. In January, the Board of Education voted to close and sell Russell to help make up for the $40 million in budget cuts the School District faces over the next two years.

Jeffco to Partner with Metro West Housing Solutions to Build Housing for Homeless Vets
The Jefferson County Community Assistance Division plans to use as much as $1.28 million in federal earmark money to partner with Metro West Housing Solutions (MWHS) to build 15 units for homeless veterans.
 
In spring 2009, through the county's congressional representatives, Jefferson County requested a federal earmark for housing homeless veterans, Jeffco Human Services staff told the BCC at the staff briefing. The county received $190,000. In winter 2009, the county requested and received $487,000 in federal earmarks, and recently requested an additional $600,000 more.
 
The Community Assistance Division approached MWHS to see if they would partner with the county on a project to house homeless veterans using the federal funding. MWHS had already planned a 200-unit apartment complex along the Light Rail line at West 13th Avenue and Lamar Street in Lakewood. Through the partnership created between the two organizations, MWHS now plans to dedicate 15 of those apartments to homeless veterans for whom MWHS would also provide case management services. Jefferson County Human Services will be a provider of some services provided to the veterans housed there.
 
About 600 homeless veterans are in Jefferson County, according to estimates. The Jeffco Veterans Services Officer (VSO) assisted 101 homeless veterans in receiving $9,500 in emergency assistance benefits in the past year. When the VSO asked homeless veterans whether they would be interested in and use a homeless veterans' facility if one was available in Jefferson County, 49 percent said yes.
 
The total $35 million, 200-unit development will serve a variety of mixed-income residents, including families, seniors and single adults. The veterans' units would be part of a two-year transitional housing program. However, if a veteran wished to make the unit a permanent home after two years, MWHS would work with him or her and open up another unit for a new homeless veteran.
 
The project is expected to break ground in 2011 and be completed by early 2013.