Growing Madison County Debates $10 Million Bond for Virginia City Facility

By David Nolt, 9-21-07

Citizens in Montana’s Madison County again find themselves facing a vote on whether or not to significantly expand their courthouse, law and justice center and jail in the county seat, Virginia City.

Several lawsuits have been filed against the county because of the inadequacies in the jail and courthouse, and county officials say those lawsuits are only part of the reason they are still pushing for the new center. Last November voters turned down a bond to fund the new law and justice center. Contending the significant need for expansion had not changed, the county adjusted the design of the expansion and redoubled their efforts to fund the project through a mail-out ballot for a $10 million bond, which began arriving in voters’ mailboxes on September 18, 2007.

The new center would be built on historic Virginia City’s main street, which has raised the ire of many citizens. Commissioners argue the planning and design of the project are not only sensitive to the historic character of Virginia City, but will also help protect important historic records and preserve the town’s vitality. Some citizens are demanding the county go back to the drawing board and have launched a campaign against the bond in one more manifestation of the growing pains in Madison County and Montana’s first territorial capital, Virginia City.

In 2001, the county planning office prepared a Capital Improvements Plan, which identified the need for the new jail and other updates. County Commission Chair Dave Schulz says the new project addresses all those needs.

“The overall project structure deals with the detention issue…but more importantly our obligation to avail all aspects of Madison County government to our taxpayers,” Schulz explains. “[It addresses] access, convenience, and compatibility of all departments, and also a factor built into the plan and concept is that it allows Madison County to meet the needs of a growing population.”

The county faced one lawsuit over handicap access to the courthouse and a handful of lawsuits over the jail, which was built some time around 1876. No natural light or sound separation between sexes in the jail violates state law, and inadequate space for transfer of inmates out of cells to the courthouse or other law enforcement facilities poses significant safety threats. The eight-bed jail is also only a 72-hour facility, which means law enforcement officials spend much time transferring prisoners to other counties.

“Our deputies end up being a transport to take that person or persons to an outside facility, which means they’re outside their jurisdiction, which means they’re not able to do the job Madison County taxpayers paid them to do,” Schulz says.

Schulz emphasizes the jail is only 22 percent of the whole project, however. The project includes an expansion of the existing courthouse, new elevators for handicap access as well as more space for county offices and storage for important records from the original Montana territorial capital.

“Madison County does not have adequate space for fireproof storage for some of the oldest records in Montana,” Schulz says.

Opponents cite Virginia City’s history and preserved character as exactly the reason why a new jail and county complex should not be built on the small town’s main street.

“First and foremost, [state law] requires all our department heads stay in the county seat,” Schulz responds. “We worked very hard and very diligently with every group that had involvement to decide that the site we chose was determined to be the best site.”

Allyson Adams is a former mayor of Virginia City, and she is part of Concerned Citizens Against the Jail, which formed in November 2006. She and others in her group are not convinced the site on Wallace Street is the best place for the project.

“There is no other place like this on Earth,” Adams asserts. “This is a very unique place. You have to be very careful what it is you put on main street.”

Adams says, besides the county’s limited resources, the project as a whole is extravagant and represents an unnecessary growing of government. She also contends there was not enough public involvement in the planning of the project.

“They gave the architects carte blanche,” Adams says. “We do need to upgrade…but they never asked the people whose lives it is going to affect. They have made up their minds that this is the right thing without asking anybody.”

Adams says the county purchased the land for the project in May 2007 despite the bond not even being approved yet. A history of the project’s development is available here. The project included several public charrettes, but Ennis resident Nancy Griffin has been vocal in opposition and says the public involvement still fell short.

“The county commission has not kept an open mind to other alternatives,” Griffin says. “This promotes an expansion of county government that I don’t think is necessary. I just don’t believe Madison County, with a population of 7,000, needs to invest in our future jail population.”

Griffin drew up a draft alternative plan, which calls for a campus approach to the downtown project, including the renovation of several older buildings. Commissioner Schulz says the county explored this possibility, but did not want to “put good money against bad.” Because some of the buildings had geo-technical and other infrastructure issues, Schulz says such renovations would not be cost-effective or prudent in the long-term.

The commission and Concerned Citizens Against the Jail have also been mired in a tit-for-tat of accusations, which each side claims to be false. In October 2006 the opposition group distributed a flier saying the water and sewage for the new facility would be inadequate, something the county categorically disagrees with. Griffin also says there is talk of the new project resulting in the courthouse’s historic courtroom being divided up into separate offices. Schulz says this is also untrue.

“It [the courtroom] is on the national and state historic preservation list, which would prevent it changing it even if we wanted to, and we don’t want to,” Schulz responds.

Schulz says the room could be used more often as a meeting room because of the lack of large meeting rooms in Virginia City.

All sides seem to agree the current jail is dated--to say the least--and all seem to agree the need for some expansion of county offices, storage and access exists. How exactly the county and its citizens will adapt to the growing population will play out in the next few months. All Madison County citizens revere their beloved county seat, Virginia City, for its unique culture, character, and preserved history. However, the very existence of the law and justice center debate is proof things in Virginia City ain’t what they used to be.