Board of County Commissioners Select Two Sites for Detention Services Project

After years of research, meetings and public testimony, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has selected the Medical Lake Interchange as the preferred site for construction of a new detention services facility – and the Courthouse Campus for a new Community Corrections Center.

At tonight’s regularly scheduled public meeting, all three Commissioners acknowledged that in 2007, the original plan was to expand the County’s detention facilities to accommodate a skyrocketing jail population. However, after establishing therapeutic courts (Drug Court, Mental Health Court, Domestic Violence Court) and initiating rehabilitative/educational programs for inmates that include parenting and GED classes, and providing job search assistance – there has been dramatic decrease in the number of inmates. The Detention Services Project is now primarily focused on the construction of a new facility to replace Geiger Corrections Center, update equipment and renovate the existing jail. The project also includes a Community Corrections Center that will provide programs that have been proven to reduce recidivism (reoffending).

During tonight’s meeting, the Board discussed the merits and disadvantages of the top three sites (Courthouse Campus, Medical Lake Interchange, Sprague and Russell Road in Airway Heights) for more than an hour. A majority of the BOCC (Chair Mark Richard and Commissioner Todd Mielke) selected the Medical Lake Interchange as the preferred site for a new jail. In a subsequent vote, the Board (Richard, Mielke, and Commissioner Bonnie Mager) was unanimous in support of the Courthouse Campus as the location of a new Community Corrections Center. Staff was then directed to conduct a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review of both sites and return to the board with a summary of the findings of fact.

For more information, contact Detention Services Project Manager Lt. Mike Sparber at (509) 477-2101 or Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter, Public Information and Communications Manager at (509) 477-7195.

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