The Clark County Sheriff’s Office wants to be less spread out.
Since the sheriff’s office had to shutter its outdated Central Precinct last year, it’s housed its operations and equipment in the Clark County Jail building in Vancouver as well as at its West Precinct, which is 10 miles away near the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds and is shared with three local fire districts.
The sheriff’s office also has vehicles and deputies at the county’s facility on Northeast 78th Street and elsewhere.
“We have people and vehicles and equipment spread all over the county,” Chief Criminal Deputy John Chapman said at a county council work session Wednesday.
The topic of the work session was a proposal for a new, more-centralized building for the sheriff’s office. Chapman said a new building would be more efficient and would create a stronger civic presence for the law enforcement agency as the county grows and Vancouver annexes land on its northern border.
The sheriff’s office is proposing building a replacement facility to meet its needs over the next 30 years. It would be at the center of Clark County near the southern end of Battle Ground and be accessible to state Highway 500. But the new facility will cost tens of millions of dollars (not including the cost of land acquisition), and questions remain over how it will be financed and when it’ll be completed.
To examine its options, the county hired design and architecture firm Mackenzie, which was paid more than $22,000 for its evaluation. The firm offered three options, which were presented at the work session to the county council.
Under Option A, the new facility would be 45,550 square feet on a 2.7-acre site and would cost an estimated $31 million. It would include a community room, classroom, patrol operations, special events, investigations, special operations and support functions.
Option B would include all of the operations from Option A, as well as space for a sheriff headquarters and administration, information technology, human resources, finance, risk management and records. The building would be 64,758 square feet on a 3.1-acre site at an estimated cost of $43 million.
The most expansive plan, Option C, would combine sheriff’s office operations, with the exception of the jail, into a centralized 104,022 square foot facility located on a 4.3-acre site. The facility, under this option, would cost an estimated $57 million.
During the meeting, Jeff Humphreys, associate principal at Mackenzie, said that the building would be “an essential facility” that could withstand a flood or other disaster better than a commercial structure. He said that means the structural components will be in excess of a 10 percent premium.
The discussion of a new facility for the sheriff’s office comes as Clark County is contemplating a significant upgrade to its jail. Earlier this year, the Clark County Council assembled a commission of community leaders to consider options for the county’s overcrowded and outdated jail. The commission will likely be concluding its work in coming months and could recommend that a bond be referred to voters to pay for remodeling at the jail.
Council Chair Marc Boldt referenced the commission’s work and suggested that the bond could include funding for a new facility for the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Chuck Atkins noted that pursuing both projects simultaneously would affect how each is built.
“The reality is, you know, this has been put off so long everything is coming to a head at once,” he said. “Which may be better in the long run.”
