Public meeting on jail is Sept. 25 at junior high
The Cedar Palace’s employees had their last day on Friday. The building is now empty.
County and city leaders will hold a public meeting on a proposed new jail for Columbia Falls next Tuesday.
The county is looking at purchasing the former Plum Creek “Cedar Palace” office building and the adjoining 24 acres to the west for a new jail.
The palace would likely serve as new offices for the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department, said county administrator Mike Pence. The county, or possibly an outside firm, would build a new county detention facility, with 260 beds, about 100 more than the county has now, Pence noted.
The county already owns about 40 acres off Willow Glen Drive, but utilities aren’t close and it could cost more than $1 million just to get them there.
The Cedar Palace property already has city water relatively close and sewer fronts two of the streets as well, Pence noted. Willow Glen also puts the jail at the south end of the county.
The Cedar Palace also has a data center that the county would lease back to Weyerhaeuser for $5,000 a month until 2020. That amounts to about $180,000 in revenue.
The county also doesn’t need 35,000 square feet of space for the Sheriff’s department, so the Cedar Palace could be used to house other county services as well.
“This has potential,” Pence noted.
While the county has been saving money to build a jail, it’s also considering private firms who have shown an interest in building and operating a facility while leasing it back to the county.
Columbia Falls city leaders have been generally positive about the jail. It would mean a greater police presence in Columbia Falls and would boost the economy.
Currently the jail is located in the Justice Center in downtown Kalispell and it’s overcrowded.
The county has less than 60 days to make a decision on the property.
A new jail would require two successful voted levies, Pence noted — one to build the jail, the other to operate it.
The Columbia Falls meeting is 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Columbia Falls Junior High School. A second meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, at the Flathead County Courthouse at 800 South Main Street in Kalispell.