Law and justice center land financing OK’d

Tuolumne County supervisors voted Tuesday to borrow $4.2 million internally to buy property in Sonora for a $253 million law and justice center.

The move ensures the county will stay eligible for a $16 million state grant that will largely fund a $21 million juvenile detention center, set to be the first building on the 49-acre site, at Old Wards Ferry Road and Highway 108.
 

The county has already put $100,000 toward the purchase of the land.

Also approved as part of the vote Tuesday was a measure allowing the county to seek private financing to cover the purchase costs as a backup plan, though County Administrator Craig Pedro said he doesn’t expect that to occur.

“There’s a remote chance of that happening, but I don’t want to preclude anything,” he said.

Per the vote, the money for the land purchase will come from the county traffic mitigation fund. If it turns out the county needs the $7.9 million fund for other projects, the county’s worker compensation fund could come into play.

Tuesday’s vote was a unanimous 4-0, but thanks to Supervisor John Gray, it wasn’t without drama.

Early in the discussion, Gray seemed unsure how to vote. Adding to the tension was the fact that all four supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting, with Chairwoman Teri Murrison absent, had to vote in favor of the measure for it to be approved. Rules require supervisors approve any budgetary changes by a four-fifths’ vote.

Gray, like Murrison, had voted against the law and justice center proposal when it came before the board in October.

“It evolved from a jail to a law and justice center, and in doing that it looks like we’ve put the jail behind a number of these items,” Gray said.

Gray was referring to the fact that though a new jail is considered the center’s priority, it is not expected to be funded or built for some time.

Grand jury reports and various county studies going back several years have called the county’s current jail inadequate, due largely to a lack of space and beds.

Gray called up the various officials who would benefit from the law and justice center — Sheriff Jim Mele, Judge Doug Boyack, Probation Department Chief Adele Arnold and Sonora-area California Highway Patrol Commander Sam Samra — and basically asked them to sell him on the project.

They apparently did, as Gray ultimately voted in favor of the center’s financing plan.

By doing so, Gray pointed out that he was staying true to a public pledge made not to serve as a roadblock to the law and justice center effort.

“But it is a difficult decision,” he added.

The law and justice center, as planned, will eventually hold a juvenile detention center, jail, public defender’s and district attorney’s offices, civil and criminal courts, and a California Highway Patrol office. The campus would be built over the next 20 years.  

The reasoning behind the project is law and justice-related offices in the county, officials say, are scattered largely in downtown Sonora, where parking is tight and they are outgrowing their space.

Pedro called the project “a big endeavor.”

“We have to be creative, but realistic,” he said.

Pedro hopes the vast majority of the center’s $253 million price tag will be paid for by the state.