County may be committed to build new courthouse
By Dwight Otwell Editor

The county may be obligated to build a new courthouse at the site of the new jail on Pleasant Valley Road.

Roger Swanson, who sold the land to the county and lives adjacent to the property, said he entered into a written and verbal contract with the county to build a justice center at the site when the jail is completed. The jail is slated to be ready for occupancy in 2008.

Swanson appeared before the county commissioners at the July 2 meeting and told them that the written agreement was on the deed for the property when he sold the land to the county three years ago.

Former commissioner Ernest Jones said that when the county purchased the land, there was an immediate need for a jail but judges were telling the county that new courtrooms were needed. District Court Judge Danny Davis threatened to order that new courtrooms be constructed.

"It was our intent initially that it be a complete package," Jones said. "We agreed to put in a contract that a justice center be put into effect as soon as practical."

However, no binding time limit was placed on when a justice center would be constructed, Jones said. The jail is designed so that a courthouse would fit in seamlessly, Sheriff Keith Lovin said.

Commissioner Dana Jones, is the only one of three commissioners currently on the board of commissioners who purchased the property from Swanson.

"We don't have the money to put a justice center there," Jones said. "My responsibility now is to try to get some additional classrooms at Ranger."

Jones said that a small courtroom almost ready for use in the courthouse should suffice for the near future. Acourthouse can't be built at the Pleasant Valley Road site without a big tax increase, he said.

Lovin said it took three years of planning for a detention center. He encouraged the county commissioners to carefully plan what they will do concerning a justice center.

Swanson said he, his wife and three daughters live next to the jail site. A jail by itself won't increase the value of his land but if the county seat is on the site, it would make his land more valuable, Swanson said.

"I am only asking for what was agreed upon," he said.

Swanson said County Manager David Badger helped draft the agreement between the county and himself. Swanson said that the county is spending money renting quite a few buildings and spaces in town.

Swanson said the county came back to him and wanted another entrance to the property other than the Regal Street entrance. Swanson gave them a 40-foot right-of-way off Pleasant Valley Road. Swanson said that the agreement with the county stipulates that only the Regal Street entrance is to be used until a courthouse is built.

"I have been at this for three years. Someone should have researched this (agreement). If you make a deal, it's a deal," Swanson said.

He said that the small courtroom being readied for use in the courthouse is only a pacifier.

Swanson said the agreement reads that the courthouse would be started after the jail is completed.

"If they started on the courthouse now, it would be three years away from being completed," he said. "The previous commissioners had it laid out real well."

Swanson said that if Wells & West, who are building the jail, got to work on the courthouse immediately after the jail is completed, it could save a million dollars. The county has $400,000 in a retaining wall to accommodate a courthouse, he said.

Swanson said that if the commissioners don't continue with plans for a courthouse as was agreed upon, it would constitute fraud.

"Hopefully, they will put something together and resolve this," Swanson said. "I will keep after them and sit down with them to get something firm."

Commissioner David Sumpter said the present courthouse is functional. He said he doesn't think it is appropriate to move the entire courthouse out of its present building.

Dana Jones said that he thinks that eventually the courthouse should be moved to the Pleasant Valley Road site. There is enough room there and the drawings have been done, he said.

"I think the decision will be up to the next board," he said. "I don't think we have the money to do it in the next three years. It is a matter of money and the schools are a priority now."

Jones said new classrooms are needed for the overcrowded Ranger school. Marble Elementary needs a gym and Hiwassee Dam needs a track, he said. A work session will be held, possibly in August, between the school board and the county commissioners to come to some conclusions.