Current and future development focus of Adams County Commission discussion

RITZVILLE — Adams County Commissioners discussed possible options for the design of a new evidence facility for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office near Othello, but it was part of a wider-ranging discussion about the future.

County officials obtained funding for a building in 2021 and decided to build it on county-owned property adjoining the Othello Fairgrounds. Commissioners have discussed using that property for additional county buildings, and Commissioner Jay Weise said he wanted to at least think about how they want to use that land.

“What we don’t usually do is think ahead,” Weise said. “Then it ends up that the people who are sitting here in our seats 10 years from now are (saying), ‘We have a mess.’ Could we at least have done something that kind of sets it up, so the decisions aren’t as much of a rat’s nest?”

It might not be possible, Weise said, but county officials should try.

The property is at the intersection of West Bench Road and South Reynolds Road south of Othello. The land is unimproved, and Weise said that how the county wants to improve it is one of the conversations required.

“We already had kind of a conceptual (plan), setting up a campus out there for public works and the sheriff and whoever else might need it,” Weise said. “I think we need to make sure that we at least looked at it and said, ‘If we put another one or two buildings out there in the next five, 10, 15 years, are we going to have water capacity and the potential (for) some kind of septic system out there?’”

Commissioner Dan Blankenship said he thought development of the property, if it comes, should be the county’s responsibility.

“It’s cheaper just to do it ourselves,” Blankenship said.

State regulations are becoming more stringent, he said, so county officials will have to think about what they want to develop on the property.

“Water is going to be a limitation,” Blankenship said.

Adams County Public Works Director Todd O’Brien said the contract will include provisions for feasibility assessment of a sewer system and drilling a well.

The first structure on the site will be the evidence building; county officials asked for and received a $900,000 allocation from the capital budget for the project. But construction costs have increased, and O’Brien said one way to save money will be to establish some general specifications for design.

Commissioners decided on a wood frame building, with Weise saying that it would be the easiest to expand. Its initial size will depend on construction costs, but commissioners said they preferred 3,000 square feet. The heating-cooling system will have to be built to the purpose, which is, Weise said, storing evidence in criminal cases.

“We’re kind of looking at storage of stuff, and the possible retention or processing of stuff. As long as we keep that in the back of our mind, that’s the way the building should be set up, at least initially,” Weise said.