Curry to host ribbon cutting for courthouse

Curry County on Thursday hosts a ribbon cutting and open house for its courthouse renovations that have been 15 years in the making and cost about $28 million.

The ceremony is set to begin at 4 p.m. on the courthouse steps at 700 N. Main in Clovis. A county news release states guests will be provided with a “brief program and tours,” and light refreshments will be available.

County Manager Lance Pyle on Tuesday said the Sheriff’s Department has already relocated into the new facility from its old offices on the south end of the courthouse. Other state employees will be moving into their new offices in the coming weeks. Detention Center inmates began moving into new facilities in 2020. Most county employees moved into new offices at 417 Gidding St., east of the post office, in 2016.

Discussion for the county facility renovations began in earnest in 2008 after eight violent jail inmates cut a hole through the jail’s roof and escaped. All of the escapees were eventually captured, but that incident and other jail escapes – involving 16 inmates between 2002 and 2013 – prompted public officials to seek renovations to the detention center and other county facilities.

Three times between 2010 and 2013, voters rejected county proposals to renovate the jail and courthouse.

Then in 2014, county commissioners increased sales taxes to fund the renovations. Officials said the tax increase would generate $14 million over 19 years to cover about half the costs – almost $10 million for the courthouse upgrades, $4 million for the county offices on Gidding. Jail upgrades were another $14 million, the money coming from the state and annual county budgeting processes.

County officials said at the time the need for a new jail was a public safety issue and they did not feel the elections had reflected a majority of residents’ wishes because of the small voter turnout.

While Thursday’s ribbon cutting marks the end of one construction project, it also marks the beginning of a new project.

“We look forward to breaking ground on the new magistrate court facility to the west of the new (courthouse) addition,” Pyle stated in the news release.

The magistrate court facility will feature an enclosed connection directly to the Curry County Detention Center with multiple elevators, Pyle said. It will cost $14 million, money awarded by the state through capital outlay.

The county leases the current magistrate court building at 221 Pile St. for $100,000 per year.