In Kansas, the Leavenworth County Commission on Thursday decided to shelve the old jail renovation project and proceed with the Justice Center renovation to create a kitchen and work release area. Commissioners met with representatives from the district court, Sheriff’s department, Leavenworth Police Department and county clerk’s office to discuss solutions for file storage.

Dan Rowe with Treanor Architects spoke to the commission about several options for storage space, including renovating the old jail facility, razing the old jail and constructing a new metal building or utilizing space available in the Justice Center.

“I have been very outspoken on this issue," Commissioner Clyde Graeber told The Leavenworth Times. “I think pursuing renovation of the old jail for storage at (a high cost) is absolutely ludicrous.”

Graeber said estimates to renovate the old jail were $850,000, but costs would most likely increase during the renovation process, largely based on steel building prices in the region.

“I cannot see investing $1 million for storage,” Graeber said. “It doesn’t make sense at all.” Commission Chairman J.C. Tellefson said the county spends more than $10,000 a year storing files at the salt mines in Hutchinson. He suggested purchasing equipment to scan documents into digital form, which would cut down on the amount of needed storage space.

Steve Crossland, court administrator for the First Judicial District, said clerks had begun scanning every document after Jan. 1, 2007, but the number of pages has made it difficult to complete the task. Clerks have yet to begin scanning any back documents.

Crossland also said that documents will always need to be retrieved from storage in Hutchinson; the district court must retain documents for four years. Assistant County Attorney Roger Marrs voiced his opinion that the scanning process would take additional staff time, quietly supporting the task of building a metal storage building instead.

“Scanning what is in storage now is quite a project,” Marrs said. “It’s full-time work without the staff to do that. It is something that would have to be contracted out to do.”

Larry Malbrough, information systems director, said a new server would need to be purchased for the amount of data generated by a large scanning project. He estimated $20,000 for a new server and increased drive space to store data from scanned legal documents for the county, while the district court equipment could be closer to $40,000.

“There has got to be a better way to do this,” Tellefson said. “(The old jail) is not a pretty historic building.”

According to Tellefson, razing the old jail was estimated at $110,000; and constructing a new steel building for storage was estimated at $720,000.

Commissioner Dean Oroke expressed his frustration with the project.

“After 1-1/2 to two years, things keep changing. I don’t know what the best solution is,” Oroke said. “I will personally not support a tin building downtown. It is not a proper type of building in the proximity to the Courthouse and the Justice Center.”