The Brookings County Commission will seek proposals from architectural firms for construction of an administrative facility south of the Brookings County Detention Center.

But the project remains far from certain. Commissioners are holding off on making definite plans as they wait to see if city officials are interested in building a joint facility.

At Tuesday's commission meeting, commissioners had a work session to discuss last week's joint city/county meeting.

Commission Chairman Don Larson opened the work session by telling commissioners they should address the possibility of a joint facility with the city, a topic that was broached at the joint meeting.

"… One thing that we need to first address is - if in the future we feel that it makes sense and it could be done - do we want to pursue the possibility that we could be in the same location for our administrative offices as the city?" he asked.

"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work; but do we want to pursue it?"

Space needs was a major topic of the Sept. 8 joint meeting , in which Brookings Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Al Heuton presented a report compiled by the Administrative Facility Task Force he oversees. Multiple options

Heuton presented city and county officials with several options for a joint facility. City officials said they might still be interested in such a facility and would need to decide on the possibility soon; Mayor Tim Reed said he wanted to see the matter on the council agenda. However, a timeline on the decision was not discussed, nor was a possible timeline for construction.

Commissioner Alan Gregg said Tuesday the commission should wait until the city has another meeting to see if councilors and staff make a decision.

"Let's just wait and put the ball in their park, wait, and let them decide what they're going to decide and go from there," he said.

"If they decide it's a workable situation then it'll be in our ballpark, but right now, it's in theirs. So let's just leave it that way, I'd say." Commissioner Deanna Santema said it remained unclear which of the city's options might include the county and that it might be better to move forward.

"My thought on this is that we do have a motion on the table. We do have everything set, ready to go," she said. "I think we should continue to work on that end of it. I haven't seen anything that has changed my mind. I feel we need to continue working and possibly get RFPs (requests for proposals) and whatever."

It was Santema who earlier this summer introduced a motion to build a facility south of the detention center. The motion passed, but commissioners agreed to reconsider if a better plan came from the task force. City not really interested?

Commissioner Dennis Falken said it didn't appear to him, based on what was said at the joint meeting, that the city would include the county in a joint facility. But he said it would be worth waiting to find out, just to be sure.

"I think we need to still stay on task with what the motion is, to move forward and hopefully by the time we have our next meeting in two weeks, the city will come to us and say, 'just go ahead and do what you're going to do,' or 'yes, we really want to look for a piece of property that will fit both our needs.'"

It appears the city will look to keep its police and city hall together and expand north from its current location, which is a plan that wouldn't include the county, Falken said. Advertising ordered

Gregg then asked Commission Assistant Stephanie Vogel if the commission was doing what it could to move forward on the project south of the jail. Vogel explained that she had brought in sample proposals for the commission but held off placing an advertisement seeking proposals at the direction of the commission.

The commission had previously indicated a desire to hear the task force report before spending money on advertising. After it was decided that an official action was not required, Gregg asked board members for a consensus on advertising the proposal requests, and board members agreed.

Contact Ryan Woodard at rwoodard@brookingsregister.com