The brand-new Shelby Justice Center opened its doors to the public on Saturday afternoon, showing off the new facilities for the Shelby Municipal Court system as well as the Shelby Police Department.
More than 300 people had visited the building within the first two hours of Saturday’s open house, guided through the new building by Shelby police officers as well as Shelby City officials.
“We are thrilled and very grateful to the community, especially for the gift of the building itself,” said Shelby Mayor Marilyn John.
From the time of the groundbreaking ceremony in December 2012 to the start of the construction process in the spring of 2013, the Justice Center was erected in approximately a year. It was a long process for Project Coordinator Joe Gies.
“It’s really nice to be done, I’m so happy they’re going to be able to move in,” said Gies. “The situation at the police and the court has been just awful since (the flood in) 2007; this is a much more professional building and it’s just going to be really nice.”
When the levy for the Justice Center was passed in November 2011, it was to collect $8 million to be paid back over a 28-year period. The building came in under budget at $6.7 million, meaning the loan will be paid faster. Gies said it is estimated the loan could be paid back in less than 20 years.
“This is the first building outside of storage buildings that was built for the purpose of a city function since the fire house was built in 1872,” added John. “And this is the first building ever the police department has been housed in that was built for the purpose of the police department.”
John said the new building allows the police department, court and jail to run in a more efficient way.
“Police work is very specific in nature and the jail is very specific in nature because the requirements for the jail come from the state of Ohio,” said John. “To have a room where they can clean and store their weapons, a room designed specifically for taking in evidence, to have office space and a dispatch center with all the current technology, they can do their job in such a more efficient manner than they will ever have been able to do that before.”
Shelby Police Chief Charlie Roub said the moving process from Wareham Road will start on Monday, with the dispatch center expected to be up and running by Wednesday.
“For the last year we’ve watched this go from basically a parking lot to a police and court building, and it’s been exciting,” said Roub.
Roub said the new facilities are going to affect every aspect of the operations at the police department in a big way.
“I’ve been telling my people a year from now, we should really know this building,” said Roub. “It’s a smart building, and we can make it work for us. We occupy a building now, there’s not much we can do there. But in this building we can really use this building to our benefit, and the benefit of others.”
Words like “fabulous” and “impressive” were buzzing among visitors to the Justice Center on Saturday, with the public very excited to see what their money built for the city.
“It’s a very impressive facility, it’s something Shelby really needed and it will help with the efficiency for having jury trials and help with the public coming in,” said newly named Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson. “The areas they had before at the courthouse was very limited in space and they were very old, and they weren’t designed the way a new justice center needs designed. This is a big win for the city of Shelby.”
Roub said he expects the new Justice Center to last for the next 50 or 60 years.
“I can’t speak for everybody on the police department but I think everybody is happy with the way things turned out,” he said. “It’s going to be an adjustment for everybody, but I think over the long haul it’s going to be great.”
“The areas they had before at the courthouse was very limited in space and they were very old, and they weren’t designed the way a new justice center needs designed. This is a big win for the city of Shelby,” said newly named Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson.
