Stoddard solution

Cape Girardeau County commissioners say it would be cheaper to close the local juvenile detention center and house area juvenile offenders in Stoddard County's new regional facility, citing declining occupancy and potential savings.

The new Stoddard center, scheduled to open Feb. 25 in Bloomfield, Mo., is only the second regional juvenile detention facility in the state, officials there said. They've offered to make available up to 10 beds daily to house juvenile offenders from the Cape Girardeau area.

Joe Gambill, Cape Girardeau County 2nd District commissioner, oversees the county's buildings and grounds. He estimated that contracting for 10 beds would cost $191,000 a year compared to $365,000 a year to build and operate a new 20-bed facility in Cape Girardeau.

Regional centers make sense, some say, particularly in the face of a tight state budget that has little funding for new juvenile staff.

"I think it is an option to be considered," said Gary Waint, director of juvenile and adult court programs for the state courts administrator's office.

Joe Satterfield, Stoddard County associate circuit and juvenile judge, believes regional centers are more cost effective. "Economically, it would never work if every circuit had its own center."

Not swayed

Still, the circuit judges and juvenile officers in the 32nd Judicial Circuit want Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties to build a new 38-bed detention center on an industrial tract in Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau County would have to pay 69 percent of the cost, with Perry and Bollinger picking up the remainder. This is the financial standard for paying for all juvenile operations in the circuit.

Cape Girardeau County commissioners say the three counties can't afford a $4.3 million structure, and it's not needed because the 27-year-old, 10-bed detention center near downtown Cape Girardeau has seldom been full.

"The big issue in my mind is four years of declining usage," Gambill said.

From 1997 through 2000, the average number of juveniles held in the center declined from five a day to 3.4 a day, Gambill said. In the first seven months of 2001, there was an average of two juveniles a day.

The center's cell block was closed following a fire in August and reopened in December after renovations. Randy Rhodes, chief juvenile officer for the 32nd Judicial Circuit, said the number of juveniles detained has increased since then.

In January, the center held an average of seven juveniles a day and was filled to capacity during 10 days of the month, Rhodes said.

But Gambill questions the need for a new center that would require more staff, whose salaries would be paid by the state's taxpayers.

The local circuit has a 32-member juvenile staff that includes jailers and juvenile officers.

Under the state's funding formula, Rhodes said he would be entitled to 13 additional employees. With salaries and benefits, the cost to taxpayers would amount to $325,000, he said.

Gambill and the other two commissioners say they doubt those positions would be filled because of the tight state budget. They plan to take the hour-long drive to Bloomfield soon to look at that county's juvenile center.

Meanwhile, the issue of whether the commissioners will have to fund a Cape Girardeau center is before the seven-member Missouri Judicial Finance Commission, and no date is set for a ruling.

Stoddard's center

The new regional center in Bloomfield won't be getting any state dollars to hire additional staff for the next year, said Michael Davis, chief juvenile officer for the 35th Judicial Circuit in Stoddard and Dunklin counties.

Davis said his office plans to operate the center with his current staff, a combination of 12 full-time and part-time detention aides, plus the reassignment of some supervisory personnel.

Workers last week were putting the finishing touches on the detention center, part of the $3.3 million Stoddard County Justice Center.

The main floor houses courtrooms and offices for the circuit judges, juvenile officers and the prosecuting attorney. Those offices opened late last month.

The lower level houses a $1.1 million, 19-cell detention center, which includes two holding cells and a padded cell. It also has classrooms for detainees.

The project is being paid for with Stoddard County funds, money from the Missouri Department of Public Safety and bonds.

The bonds are being retired with $150,000 to $175,000 a year set aside by Stoddard and Dunklin counties in the juvenile budget.

Satterfield said housing juveniles from other counties for up to $60 a day generates revenue.

"It is a plus," he said.

The county's existing detention center generated $90,000 in revenue last year while incurring $120,000 in expenses.

Davis is hoping for similar results in the new center.

Cape kids welcome

The regular detention area has two eight-cell pods, but three of the rooms in each cell block are equipped for double occupancy.

In an emergency, the other cells in the pods also have enough space to convert them to double occupancy, which would give the center a maximum of 32 beds.

The cells have stainless steel sinks, toilets and drinking fountains as well as special beds that are attached to the floor.

The new center will replace one in Bloomfield that currently can hold 12 juveniles and often is near capacity, Davis said. Stoddard County juvenile authorities currently have agreements to house juvenile offenders for about a dozen counties as well as the Missouri Division of Youth Services.

"The last four years we have had to turn kids away," said Davis. Those juveniles had to be held in other detention centers or put under house arrest, he said.

That shouldn't be the case at the new center.

Davis said initially he expects the new center will house 12 to 14 juveniles a day. He said the center would have cell space to house Cape Girardeau's juvenile offenders, too.

"I don't ever anticipate a daily population of 24 kids," Davis said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123