'Gross misjudgment': Wayne County clerk warns Criminal Justice Center too cramped

Detroit — Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett is sounding warning bells about the clerk's space at the future Criminal Justice Center, but key county officials remain convinced the concerns amount to a false alarm.

For months, the County Clerk's Office has lambasted its forthcoming workspace as a "gross misjudgment" for the public and staff, according to a December email sent to over a dozen county officials, including several Wayne County commissioners and contractors involved in the construction and design of the facility. Garrett and a 70-person staff will be stationed on a single floor. Currently, that staff occupies two floors at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, also known as Wayne County Circuit Court, in Greektown, officials said.

"It appears that you have no intention to correct this spacing issue that we have been adamantly protesting from the time that we received the design plans," wrote Dwayne Seals, deputy clerk and chief financial officer for the Wayne County Clerk's Office, in the email. Garrett declined repeated requests for comment.

The new center will house the county's 2,280-bed jail, sheriff and prosecutor staff and administrative offices, criminal courthouse and juvenile detention facility. It's located on the city's east side near Interstate 75 and East Warren Avenue, about two miles north of downtown.

Garrett and her staff have a broad range of duties, which means her staff is currently spread out in various buildings. Garrett serves as secretary to the Board of Election Commissioners and is responsible for a wide variety of record-keeping. The county clerk must keep transcripts of births and deaths, issue marriage licenses, record and index all business assumed names, co-partnership certificates, notary public appointments and the discharge of military personnel, among other records.

The center was originally expected to open in the spring or summer 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues pushed the opening to later this year. County officials have recently shied away from giving a target opening date after the developer and the county pushed back key mileposts on when the facility would be turned over to the county.

The clerk's office listed "seven big concerns" about the facility in an October email. The list includes cubicles "four to eight square feet" smaller than the current space at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice; insufficient space for a customer counter and two copiers; the placement of security cameras in the workspace, and a "bond room" where people pay cash bonds that is allegedly unsecured.

Garrett, an elected official, is also dismayed she will have no private office or personal parking space.

"I urge you to reconsider this terrible proposal that would leave the Clerk with less space and no way for her to personally direct and oversee her staff as needed," Seals wrote in an October email to county officials.

The clerk's office has also protested plans for a "media room," an area reserved for press events for various departments at the criminal justice complex, on the same floor as clerk operations. "We understand how ridiculous it is to take needed space from the Clerk for this 'unnecessary' room," Seals wrote. "After discussing this with the Clerk, she has instructed me to 'raise the alarm level' on this unacceptable change immediately."

"We've been raising our concerns for almost a year now," Seals said in an interview with The News on Friday. "We are still having discussions but as far as I am aware, it has not resulted in any change."

Other county officials remain unconvinced by the concerns.

Wayne County Commissioner Glenn Anderson, who heads the committee keeping track of the Criminal Justice Center, said: "I think they have provided quite a large space for the clerk's office" at the new complex.

He and other commissioners toured the complex in May. The committee is still seeking more information and details of the clerk's concerns, but at this point, no changes at the facility are being recommended, Anderson said.

Bedrock stays out of fight

The new criminal justice complex is the heart of a 2018 deal between the county and Bedrock, the Detroit real estate arm for billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures. Bedrock is overseeing the construction of the facility in exchange for gaining ownership of the various downtown sites where the current jail and other county facilities are located. Bedrock intends to develop those sites.

Bedrock indicated the clerk's complaints will be settled among county officials.

"Plans for the Wayne County Criminal Justice Complex were developed in conjunction with and to suit the County’s interior specifications," Bedrock said in an email statement to The News. "Any further inquiries regarding the layout and design should be directed to Wayne County."

Wayne County Corporation Counsel James Heath is one of the main point persons for the county, working with both Bedrock and other county officials. The clerk's office is discounting the many technological upgrades the new complex will provide, Heath said.

"We are confident, and I'm not just speaking for the clerk here ... all the folks who are going to have workspaces in that new facility are going to have an appropriate space that allows them to do their jobs and, in many respects, do their jobs better than they're able to do it in a less efficient environment," Heath said.

Several of the clerk's concerns are based on misunderstandings, he said.

The clerk says the door to the room where people pay cash bonds has no lock. When the clerk's office requested a lock on the door, "I was informed that it was denied!" Seals wrote in an email. "This is a clear and present danger to the citizens and to the county staff who participate in this cash transaction."

Heath said there "is a lock in the room." Anyone who gets to the room has already had to go through security measures to enter the Criminal Justice Center, he said.

"There is a lock programmed for that room. If a citizen were to go there and count a large sum of money, there's going to be a clerk on the other side of a secured area. There is a lock the citizen can use so that no one can walk in as they are making use of the room."

The bond room was approved by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, among others, Heath said. "It's not accurate to say that there's no lock," he said.

Worries about smaller space

The smaller workspace for clerk staff is also a misinterpretation of a more efficient space, Heath said. The new desks will have under-mounted keyboards, which means they are in sliding trays beneath the desk, and hanging computer monitors, which means more counter space for workers, he said. Overall, the space has been designed to adhere to regulations by the federal American Disability Act and to improve ergonomics.

Garrett's demand for a private office likely amounts to a last-minute design change in a facility that is long overdue to open. Commissioner Anderson said officials are hesitant to advocate for something that may cause more delay.

Garrett's main office is at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center downtown; she has another at 400 Monroe in Greektown. The latter building is home to several county offices, including the clerk division that handles birth and death certificates.

The County Clerk also serves Wayne County Circuit Court, currently at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. That's the staff who will move to the new Criminal Justice Center when it opens.

Heath said Garrett doesn't have a private office at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice but now wants one at the new facility. "What the clerk is saying is, 'I'd like to go from two to three offices now,'" Heath said. The county and clerk have been discussing the issue for over three years, he said. "That's not something that we think it'd be prudent to change right now."

Other departments have not raised major concerns about the new facility.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy praised the county's efforts.

“The new Criminal Justice Center is a massive project that has involved collaboration with many stakeholders," Worthy said in an email statement to The News. "In my office, we have been digitizing paper case files and getting rid of things collected over the years that will not travel to our new offices. We have been able to keep up our day-to-day work while this is going on. The county has communicated well with me continuously during this process.”

At the start of this year, county officials aimed to have the complex open by the end of summer. Instead, Bedrock has twice missed target dates for the facility to be declared 98% complete, known as the "substantial completion" mark. The goal must be met before Wayne County agrees to a "turnover date," which means the municipal government takes possession of the property.

Once the facility is handed over to the county, it starts a six-month deadline for the various county departments to move in. The county would also be charged $500,000 a month if it stays in the existing buildings for longer than six months, according to the development agreement.

laguilar@detroitnews.com