Commissioners used an extended portion of the meeting to respond after the Monroe County Council declined to proceed with a previously planned property purchase for a new justice facility.

Commissioners described a five‑year process of property reviews, schematic and design work and engagement with department heads and consultants. They said Fullerton Pike (a site inside the city limits), Thompson property, North Park and other parcels were analyzed; the Fullerton Pike rezoning in the city was denied and other sites presented engineering, cost or neighborhood opposition obstacles. Commissioners said North Park was the preferred site because it was unencumbered, flat and not karst terrain.

"We had the money. State legislature said, how about 3 more obstacles for you?" a commissioner said, summarizing recent complications. Commissioners emphasized the countys constitutional responsibility to provide a jail, warned of federal litigation risk and noted the county had reduced initial budgets and scoped down designs to fit what the county council approved earlier in the week.

Commissioner Madera noted limitations of local efforts to reduce incarceration and described proposed state constitutional and statutory changes (preventive detention proposals, changes to continuance periods) that could increase pretrial detention and swell local jail populations. "If adopted, we can expect a lot more pretrial detention, longer lengths of stay for defendants flagged as dangerous," she said, and cautioned that preventative detention proposals "provide no instruction to judges" and could be subject to misuse.

Staff and project consultants said they had constrained the design to fit the councils approved corrections tax and had avoided returning to the council for larger funding requests. Staff described months of work with DLZ and department heads to reduce cost and preserve necessary operational elements. Several commissioners urged the council to resume discussions quickly and reach majority agreement.

Why it matters: Commissioners say the existing Justice Building fails to meet constitutional standards for inmate care and that delays raise legal and operational risks. Policy choices by the county council and state legislature affect facility needs and bed counts.

What's next: Commissioners said they will await the county councils next steps and urged accelerated discussions; no new motion or change in funding was approved at the meeting.