Law & Justice Center Again? [Listen]
Listen to this interview below
Gallatin County Commissioner Steve White (Left Above) joined Tom Egelhoff, filling in for Dominick In The Morning last Friday, for an update on the upcoming vote on the never ending Law & Justice Center.
As usual there are many hoops that both the city and county have to jump through before this thing can get on the ballot again.
One of the issues is that Gallatin County is the only county in the state that has five incorporated communities that will all be using some of the services of the L&J. Plus 50 percent of the county is government land.
One idea that’s being explored is to separate law enforcement and the court system and provide each with their own facility in their own building.
The law enforcement would be the Sheriff’s Office and the Bozeman Police Department. Law enforcement has the greatest need so that might be the deciding factor in which way to go with the L&J.
Currently the ball is in the Bozeman City Commission’s court and they expect to have some kind of plan to present to the county by April 23rd.
The current design plans can be modified for either decision. Take the existing design and put all groups in the building or the city can opt to have their own building for city law enforcement and do that themselves.
Once the final proposal is agreed to then it will be up to the voters. Will it be on the November ballot? Is the fourth time the charm or will voters send both parties back to the drawing board? It’s anyone’s guess.
The L&J truly is the “Guest that wouldn’t leave.”