Commissioners skeptical of juvenile-center building needs

Two of Cape Girardeau County's three commissioners say there aren't enough juveniles being detained to warrant building a new detention center, and the entire commission dismisses a recent increase in jailed offenders as a ploy by juvenile authorities to get a new building.

The 32nd Judicial Circuit's chief juvenile officer, Randy Rhodes, denies the accusation that he and local judges are scheming to fill the cells. Occupancy is up because there have been more arrests, he said.

But commissioners Joe Gambill and Larry Bock aren't ready to approve a new building even if it is scaled back from a $4.3 million, 38-bed building to a $2.7 million, 20-bed center. Juvenile authorities haven't convinced them of the need, they say.

"Based on the occupancy rate, there is no justification for it," said Gambill, who has been critical of the project since taking office a year ago.

Fewer than half of the 10 cells in the existing detention center near downtown Cape Girardeau were filled most days during the first seven months of 2001. Last summer, only two juveniles a day on average were housed in the 27-year-old building.

The center's cell block was closed following a fire in August.

Since reopening last month after renovations, the center has been filled to near capacity, housing an average of nine juveniles a day.

"It seems quite obvious they are stockpiling juveniles to show a bigger need," said Gerald Jones, presiding commissioner, who nevertheless favors building a new center provided it's affordable.

But Rhodes said arrests explain the higher occupancy. Police took 366 juveniles into custody during the first half of last year. During the last six months of the year, that number climbed to more than 460, Rhodes said.

"That is arrests. That is cops bringing us kids," he said. Most juveniles are held three days or less depending on the detention hearing, Rhodes said.

$2.7 million the limit

Jones said he favors a scaled-down new building if there's enough money in the juvenile budget to retire 20-year bonds that would have to be issued for the project.

The county can't afford more than a $2.7 million project, Jones said. The commissioners haven't made a final decision.

The state pays the salaries of juvenile officers, but Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties in the 32nd Judicial Circuit pay the operating expenses. Cape Girardeau County pays the bulk of those costs.

Jones said the existing detention center, which cost $167,000 to build and opened in July 1974, eventually will have to be replaced.

Rhodes said the existing center has room for only the most serious offenders.

The controversial project remains in limbo. The commissioners, along with their counterparts in Perry and Bollinger counties, appealed to Missouri's Judicial Finance Commission to resolve the budget dispute.

Commissioners from the three counties met in St. Louis late last month with two members of the Judicial Finance Commission as well as John Grimm, presiding circuit judge, and judges William Syler and Peter Statler.

Grimm has asked an investment banker to calculate bond payments for a $3 million project.

"We are still optimistic we are going to get it resolved," Grimm said Friday. "We still feel strongly that a new center is justified."

Bought nine acres

Under state law, the circuit court can dictate its own budget, which includes juvenile office operations. But the county commission approves overall county spending.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission in 2000 bought nine acres at the end of Progress Street in an industrial area west of South Kingshighway as a site for a new juvenile center. The county spent $275,000 for the land.

As late as December of that year, commissioners appeared ready to proceed with the project.

Gambill wasn't on the commission then. He took office a year ago, replacing Max Stovall, who had been a major supporter of the project.

Gambill questioned the need for a new center even as architect Tom Holshouser was drawing up final plans for a 40,000-square-foot center.

The commissioner said the renovated center fills the need. "A brand-new cell won't look one bit different than those cells right there," he said.

The center was renovated after a 16-year-old girl started a fire in her cell in August. Grimm and Statler closed the detention center, citing safety concerns.

Improvements include new electronic locks, replacing manually operated sliding bolts and making it easier and faster to evacuate in case of a fire.

Other improvements include better emergency lighting, fire-resistant mattresses, newly painted walls, one-piece metal beds bolted to the floors, a metal detector and razor wire on the recreation yard fence.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123