What’s next?
Attention focused on Sharon Avenue property
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HOUGHTON -- Following Tuesday's defeat of the $28 million Houghton County Jail bond proposal, public attention remains focused on the future of the county-owned Sharon Avenue property.
While unofficial election results show 58.3 percent of voters rejected the 30-year public safety funding measure, municipal records indicate the county's use of the site for administrative offices will proceed regardless of the jail project’s termination.
Public opposition leading up to the election frequently targeted the county's acquisition of the Sharon Avenue facility, with critics questioning the necessity of owning the property without an approved jail construction plan. However, county assessments demonstrate that the site remains critical to resolving chronic spatial deficits and security issues within the current historic courthouse complex.
Houghton County Jail Committee Co-Chair Faith Morrison stated the Board of Commissioners has already finalized the administrative transfer plans for the Sharon Avenue facility. The county had previously completed the Request for Proposal (RFP) process and finalized an engineering contract with OHM Advisors to oversee the structural renovations.
“That’s already settled,” Morrison said regarding the office expansion. “They had an RFP to OHM for engineering work and then they have had a subsequent contract with OHM for initial work, so it’s ongoing.”
Morrison noted the funding mechanisms for the office conversion remain completely separate from the failed public safety ballot item.
“When they passed the second resolution--the plain language resolution--they committed that none of the funds from the jail millage would go to the Sharon Avenue building, that they were going to pursue that with their own funds. So they’re already building for it. It’s not undecided. It’s decided.”
The conversion of the Sharon Avenue building is necessitated by long-term shifts in county operations. Since the main Houghton County Courthouse was constructed at the turn of the 20th century, state-mandated administrative obligations have expanded, requiring additional departments and personnel that exceed the courthouse’s office capacity.
Furthermore, regional population and commercial growth have amplified security risks within the centralized complex, particularly regarding daily public foot traffic to non-judicial branches like the Building Department.
"There’s a lot of foot traffic in the courthouse to the Building Department, and that’s got to stop," Morrison said. "It’s a very tenuous situation in terms of security. It’s just not the standard anymore to have people walking right up to the courts and support services with their grievances. They need to go to a single mode of entry into the courtroom, and they need to reduce the amount of traffic."
Under the finalized facility plan, several non-judicial offices will relocated from the courthouse to the Sharon Avenue property.
"They’re going to move up to the new building on Sharon Avenue so that they don’t have to be where the courts are,” Morrison stated. “The Building Department does not need to be near the courts. And I know that the issue of document storage is just out of hand. So I think they’re going to try to get things better organized as well by moving certain offices up."
While Morrison noted that the full logistical roster of relocating departments remains under internal board management, the structural execution of the office pipeline remains independent of the electorate’s Tuesday ballot decisions. The County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to review immediate post-election facility allocations at its upcoming Tuesday meeting.