Basic courthouse schematics approved

CLOVIS — Curry County commissioners on Tuesday balked at plans that call for five elevators in an expanded Curry County Courthouse, but approved basic schematic drawings for a new area to house magistrate court facilities.

The elevators would be designed to increase security when jail inmates are transferred from the Curry County Detention Center to courtrooms for court procedures, and to assure that judges and court staff are kept safe as they travel in and out of the courthouse.

The county’s public services director Ben Roberts explained that the elevators would help keep inmates indoors but isolated from the public, or courtroom staff and juries, as they transfer from cells in the detention center to holding areas next to courtrooms as they wait to appear in court. There would be one elevator each for magistrate and district court areas.

There would be a staff elevator for magistrate staff and juries and one for district court staff and juries, too. The remaining elevator would allow general public access to court offices and courtrooms, he said.

Several commissioners said the proposed elevators are costly to install and require frequent maintenance.

One commissioner proposed that a ramp be built instead to isolate inmates from the general public and court staff.

Roberts and architect David Puritz of the NCA architectural firm also presented an estimate that the magistrate court section would cost about $10.1 million to build.

Kevin Spears, administrator for the magistrate court, said he has been meeting with district and magistrate judges to help develop plans.

While commissioners decided to accept the schematic drawings, they also voted unanimously to schedule a work session to discuss the plans in detail.

In other action Tuesday, the commission:

• Approved basic schematic drawings and a cost estimate of $716,000 for construction of a new building to house offices and functions of the Curry County Cooperative Extension Service.

The new building would be built next to the Curry County Events Center on the Curry County Fairgrounds, and would include offices, kitchen facilities and a meeting room large enough to accommodate 230 persons. The extension center’s 4-H youth programs and accommodation needs for 4-H exhibitors at the Curry County Fair would be the driving force behind the spacious meeting rooms, according to Mindy Turner, the extension service’s program director.

• Voted to accept the county’s audit of financial record-keeping for fiscal 2021, which ended June 30. The commissioners voted unanimously to accept the audit after hearing from Bobby Cordova, principal of the auditing firm of CordovaCPA, that the fiscal 2021 audit resulted in an “unmodified” rating.

The unmodified rating is the best rating an auditor can give in a report to the New Mexico State Auditor every year. The county ended the fiscal year with a substantial cash balance, Cordova said.

Later in the meeting, County Manager Lance Pyle said the county’s cash reserves were equivalent to a year’s worth of expenditures. Cordova said the large balance was due to less in expenses than anticipated and an unspent $32 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds designed to accommodate expenses incurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Approved change orders in courthouse remodeling contracts to cover added costs of $56,276.94 to clear asbestos found in the courthouse’s basement, and $8,710.95 to cover material price increases.

• Rejected 13 of 18 cost-reduction suggestions from SDV Construction for courthouse renovations, because commissioners said they would compromise appearance or endurance of building components.

Four ideas that were accepted were to use cable instead of conduit for some wiring, a change in floor tile design that would preserve appearance but use fewer tiles, change some doors from composite-core to particle-core and white birch veneer to natural birch veneer, and switch out wood-frame chairs for plastic-frame chairs for jurors.

One idea to take out sidelight windows beside some doors was put on hold for further study.

• Accepted a bid of $19,075 from W.D. Denton Company to install sump pumps at the Curry County Events Center.

• Approved a budget adjustment to make $46,737 available for another summer intern program that allows high school and college students to work with the county during summer vacation.

• Authorized application for $279,845 in state grant funds to operate programs designed to prevent driving while intoxicated in Curry County. The county would provide a 10% match if need be with proceeds from enforcement and Teen Court activities.

n Voted to provide $37,049 from county cash funds to a Ranchvale Fire Apparatus loan fund.