Tours Saturday for new justice center and jail
The public will be able to tour the new Trempealeau County Justice Center this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The guided tours will show county taxpayers the new jail and sheriff’s offices, judge’s chambers and courtrooms, clerk of court offices, child support and district attorney’s offices that are to be located in the new $47 million justice center.
“The tour will take about an hour,” said Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson, “so it would be good if everyone didn’t show up right at 11.”
The tours will begin at the new entrance for the justice center and courthouse complex and the parking lot near the new building will be open for use. There will be limits on where photographs can be taken. Visitors will go through what will become the secure entrance for the entire county complex.
Several offices moving to the justice center are expected to be in place by Jan. 8. Semingson said jail inmates may not be moved until late January or early February as department administrative staff train and the Department of Corrections inspects the new jail.
The new jail features a pod design that allows staff to easily view all inmates from a central location. The old jail’s linear design “meant guards had to sometimes monitor 100 screens to keep track of what was going on,” Semingson said.
He said new offices also mean that, for the first time, occupants will have windows.
“All our offices are like this,” Semingson said, looking around his window-less area. “It may be kind of an aside, but retaining people right now is a big deal.”
Semingson said the dispatch department’s move will also be delayed for installation of new software. The new dispatch system, aided by a $197,000 state grant, will allow dispatchers to receive texts and videos.
The county board is still exploring costs and funding for renovations to the courthouse as departments move into space vacated by those in the justice center. The latest estimates put the cost of that work at about $3.7 million.
