Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday will consider signing off on an $82 million project budget for improvements at the downtown Judicial and Law Enforcement Center as well as a new Public Safety Building to be constructed next to the jail.
Treanor Architects and J.E. Dunn Construction will present the budget and project details, including an estimated timeline for construction.
The JLEC project will create separate paths of travel for members of the public, staff members and people in custody of the Douglas County jail; locate the law library and clerk of the district court closer to the main entry; and provide for future expansion of the courts system.
In addition to Douglas County District Court, the JLEC building currently houses the district attorney’s office, emergency communications, emergency management, some sheriff’s office operations, information technology and building and maintenance staff.
The Public Safety Building will be nearly 26,000 square feet on county land near the jail. It will house emergency communications, emergency management and possibly some sheriff’s office staff members.
The county is paying for the project with bonds that will be paid for within existing sales tax authority and cash on hand. The project won’t require a future tax increase.
If approved, construction at the JLEC would begin in January and the project would be complete in summer of 2027, according to an estimated timeline in the agenda.
Work would begin on the Public Safety Building, or PSB, in spring, and it would be ready for move-in in spring of 2026, according to the agenda.
Here are budget breakdowns from the meeting agenda:
20241211-JLEC-PSB-budgetsThe Douglas County Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11 at the Douglas County Public Works building, 3755 E. 25th St. in Lawrence. The meeting will also be available via Zoom; find the Zoom meeting information on this page. Meeting recordings are uploaded to the county’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@douglascountyks, after each meeting.
Commissioners will hear public comment in person and via Zoom. Written public comments can be emailed to publiccomment@douglascountyks.org until 24 hours before the scheduled meeting time.
See the complete meeting agenda at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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