JUVENILE CENTER PLANS PROCEEDING; LAND PURCHASE PLANNED

~Correction: Cape Girardeau County plans to spend $275,000 for nine acres of land for a new juvenile center. A county commissioner disclosed an incorrect price for the property in an article in Wednesday's edition.

Armed with a special-use permit from Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau County Commission is moving ahead with plans to build a new juvenile center.

The City Council Monday night approved final reading of a measure granting the necessary permit for the project to proceed.

County Commissioner Max Stovall said Tuesday the county plans to spend $175,000 for a nine-acre tract of land in an industrial area of Cape Girardeau for the juvenile justice center.

County officials had refused to disclose the purchase price until the zoning permit was issued.

The undeveloped site in an industrial area at the end of Progress Street west of South Kingshighway is being bought from the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. Stovall said the closing date for the purchase has been set for June 2.

Construction could begin in October on the $3 million facility with completion expected in late 2001, officials said.

Randy Rhodes, chief juvenile officer, said the size of the center still must be determined. He said the first drawings by Cape Girardeau architect Thomas Holshouser showed a building of about 25,000 square feet in size. Holshouser said Tuesday the masonry building would be about 20,000 square feet in size.

Stovall said the center will feature a one-story detention area and a two-story section that will house juvenile offices and a courtroom.

Current plans call for putting the juvenile offices on the second floor. Rhodes said the juvenile office for the three-county, 32nd Judicial Circuit operates with a staff of about 20 people. The juvenile office serves Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties.

The detention area will have 24 cells. Only one juvenile can be held in each cell. There also will be four holding cells as well as a kitchen and space for recreation, visitor meeting areas and a booking area.

Stovall said the site could accommodate future expansion, allowing the center to add another 16 detention cells if warranted. The site also is large enough for an alternative school, if needed, he said.

"It is a wonderful site. It is high and dry," he said. "It is an ideal location."

Stovall said the building will look like an office building rather than a prison. Holshouser said an outdoor recreation area won't be surrounded by razor wire fencing. But it will be enclosed, probably by masonry walls, he said.

The county commission may seek a bank loan or issue bonds to fund the construction project, Stovall said.

The loan or bonds would be retired with county money and perhaps other sources.

The County Commission has earmarked about $200,000 a year to the project. The money previously went for juvenile office salaries.

Last July, juvenile officers In Missouri were put on the state payroll, freeing up county revenue for other expenses associated with juvenile offices.

In Cape Girardeau County, the revenue will be used to help build the new juvenile justice center, Stovall said.

Cape Girardeau County will foot the bill for the project. It will own the juvenile center. Perry and Bollinger counties, as well as other circuits, will pay for housing juveniles there.

Rhodes hopes to obtain a federal grant to pay as much as $1.5 million of the cost of the construction project.

Even without such a grant, the county has the finances to build the center, he said.

"I think we are in good shape now," said Rhodes.