Updates on proposed juvenile justice center expansion

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- A proposed expansion to Buchanan County’s juvenile justice center would include four times as many beds as what currently sits in the building.

Goldberg Group Architects staff met with the Buchanan County Commission on Thursday, March 6 to discuss details in their draft of an expansion to the center. 

During the meeting, the Goldberg architects fielded questions related to the potential design for the Judge Frank D. Connett Jr. Juvenile Justice Center. The design features an expansion providing 24 beds for the facility instead of the current six. 

“The proposed expansion is 10,500-sqaure-feet and would add 18 beds to the facility,” Goldberg Group Architects President Sydney Goldberg said.

Goldberg said they are currently in the early stages of the draft and they wanted to ensure the expanded facility could take care of the essential services it would require.

“We do want to add basic services for juveniles like classroom space, adequate medical space, space for mental health evaluation,” Goldberg said. “Just services that the facility currently struggles to find enough space for.” 

Fifth Circuit Chief Juvenile Officer Linda Meyer attended the meeting to ensure adequate bed space is being added to the juvenile detention center. Meyer previously told News-Press NOW that 24 beds is ideal. 

“Safety and security are definitely some of our primary things we’re concerned about,” she said. “We have to make sure that we comply with the standards that are set forth by the Missouri Supreme Court, and so, just ensuring that we have a safe and secure environment is very important.” 

The total project would cost around $11.7 million and take 12 to 14 months to construct. Goldberg Group Architects also discussed a 16-bed option that would cost under $10 million, but 24 beds are still the preferred amount by the county. 

“It is preferred, in part because the facility has to keep different populations separate,” Goldberg said. “If you consider just having male and female juveniles, they obviouslyhave to stay separate. And so,we're trying to give staff options to classify juveniles and provide a safe environment for everyone.” 

Goldberg Group Architects expects to have renderings of the expansion within two weeks. 

“We just need to make sure everything ties in with the current building, but we're kind of excited to see what it will look like,” Goldberg said.