It’s becoming as clear as the upper reaches of the West Fork of the Pigeon River - the downtown justice center, parking deck and courthouse renovation project in Haywood County should be downscaled. It wise concession to many - perhaps a majority - in the county who are growing more critical of the this massive project that is barreling towards resolution by a slim majority on the county board.

Let’s pretend that Haywood County and the court system could fill a building the size the study says it needs. That in itself is a leap, for one observer has already pointed out that accepting the study means there would be - on average - one court filing for every two citizens every year to meet the criteria being used to determine District Court space needs. Is that possible? But let's say it is so and go then to the next logical question - do citizens really want this facility that will meet every need of those involved in the court system for the next 60 or so years? It’s a legitimate question, one families, households and businesses grapple with everyday.

About seven years ago a school bond for just over $20 million failed, even though many who supported it said we needed everything on the list. People thought it was too much too fast. It failed by a 2-1 margin, which has been the case in most counties that have tried to sell bond issues for school construction. Yet test scores have risen, SAT averages have slowly climbed, and the percentage of students at grade level is up.

So then it seems the county bureaucracy and the state court system could get by on a bit less and still serve the needs of the citizenry.

The county came under pressure to build the justice center because it did not have handicapped facilities. Judges got irate, lawsuits were threatened, and a committee got to work. Now the plan is rolling forward under a cloud of discontent with all votes to progress with the current plan coming on 3-2 county board votes.

Many accuse the county of progressing with this plan under a cloud of secrecy. We disagree. What it has done, however, is continue moving forward at a stubborn pace now that many in the county are raising questions. Even its own elections board supervisor says having a fair and accurate election on how to pay for the new center by Nov. 6 would be nearly impossible.

Two actions will help regain public confidence in this process: first, slow the process and hold more public meetings. This is, after all, the largest single capital expenditure of taxpayer money ever in Haywood County. Perhaps commissioners will discover more support than is currently showing itself. Second, downscale the proposed new justice center from its current 95,000-square-foot size and trim several million from the $17.2 million project. We don’t provide schools everything they want, nor our Social Services Department, nor our Health Department.

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News