History Corner

The late 1990s were a stressful time for Council. The Boise Cascade sawmill closed in 1995, which tipped the scales of commerce for the railroad to the point where the line was no longer economically practical, so it soon ceased to exist. The area’s economy took a hose dive.

What would replace the railroad would be a controversy over the rest of that decade and more. But that’s a subject for a column in the near future.

As I outlined in previous columns, the hospital was in critical condition during this time, and the struggle to keep it open dragged on for a long time.

By 1996 a lawsuit against Adams County, citing inadequate jail facilities, had reached a crisis point. The jail was in the crowded basement of the courthouse, and the entire 1916 building was in poor shape. A complaint had already been filed because the old building was not in noncompliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The cost of heating the uninsulated structure was around $770 per month in winter. Something had to be done.

The county started exploring the idea of constructing a new courthouse / jail.

In early 1996 the county hired an architectural firm to create preliminary drawings of a new Courthouse/jail facility. That May a $2.3 million jail/courthouse bond election failed to pass by 45 votes.

In August, the City of Council donated 5 acres of land, that it had been given when Boise Cascade left town, to the county for the purpose of building a courthouse / jail.

Almost out of the blue, and in spite of vocal opposition to a 32-bed jail, the Record newspaper announced in its August 15 issue: “The Adams County commission passed a resolution last week that authorized Archetype Design Group to proceed with final design, engineering and construction management plans for a new courthouse and 64-bed jail. The new facility will be built on property Boise Cascade donated to the City of Council, across from the Grange Hall on highway 95.”

In February of 1997 the commissioners proposed an even more ambitious jail idea. The Record said: “The Adams County Commissioners unanimously approved the official resolution drawn up by attorney Chuck Kroll to enter into a lease with option to purchase for the proposed 300 bed jail facility and courthouse to be built on county owned property, by Civi-Genics Incorporated.” Heated opposition to this idea echoed through the community.

That May (1997) The County Commissioners said they would accept Bill McKay’s offer to personally finance a bond election for the construction of a courthouse and jail if the bond is identical to the last one, which proposed a 32-bed jail, although the commissioners said that the location could be changed and that the costs might have gone up some since then – that the election take place on August 5, and that the anti-prison group take responsibility for organizing the election. If the bond does not pass, the commissioners stated that they would sign a contract with CiviGenics or a similar company.

The $2.85 million jail and courthouse bond election was held in August and passed with 74% approval.

Construction started the following summer (1998). By the end of July, the footings, concrete slab and associated utilities had been completed. Roof trusses went up in September.

And then the code shortcomings began to appear. The first, in January 1999, was the modular jail cells, which didn’t meet the state’s square foot minimums. By April, 18 code violations were found in the design drawn by James Lichty and Archetype Design from Kansas. Construction was being managed by a company called “Delpro,” who was being paid by Lichty, who was being paid by the county. The building was about 80% complete, so corrections were expensive.

At this same time, the City of Council was trying to decide whether to let ITD build a highway bypass around downtown in exchange for $1 million to improve downtown.

By May 1999 things were a mess. The county’s lawyer, Archetype, and Delpro could not agree on much. Everybody blamed someone else. The county stopped paying Archetype/Lichty. Lichty stopped paying Delpro. Delpro shut down construction.

The commissioners finally reached an agreement with Delpro to finish construction, and Archetype/Lichty were cut out of the arrangement. The county agreed to share the cost of fixing the code deficiencies. The commissioners hired Hugh McNair to oversee the project for the county.

A major source of the problems seemed to stem from an oversight when the commissioners signed the original contract with Jim Lichty. The contract did not provide for a performance bond.

By the end of 1999 the building was nearly complete, with a few minor jobs of finish.

As the dust settled, Delpro and Archetype blamed each other for the problems, but in arbitration, Delpro was awarded $109,000 plus arbitration costs; Archetype got nothing. Sheriff Rich Green and the County Commissioners discussed whether a Grand Jury investigation should take place regarding construction of the courthouse/jail. No conclusion was reached.

The county finally moved into the building near the end of January 2000.

The final cost, as of March 1, 2000: $3,033,197.26.