Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley said the board was trying to accommodate county department heads in passing a motion by Commissioner Butch Borasky in voting Tuesday to seek qualifications from a design-build team to expand the courthouse.

A facilities committee, consisting of county department heads made the suggestion to expand the building July 13. Different department heads all related problems involving overcrowding in the facility as it is.

The request was for county commissioners to spend $3.6 million to add another 18,000 square feet to the county building at 1520 E. Basin Ave., based on the cost of commercial construction of $200 per square foot.

The courthouse, which opened in the 1990s, was originally designed for 18,000 square feet larger, but the county later cut the size to save on cost.

Nye County Facilities Manager Bob Jones said funds would be used to build three new courtrooms and house support staff, essentially converting the building from a county complex into strictly a courthouse.

Besides the addition, county officials are remodeling the Calvada Eye building for a meeting room, county administration offices and offices for either the district attorney or the health nurse, along with space for Health and Human Services.

A new emergency services building is also being completed, Jones said. The assessor, treasurer and recorder's offices are to move soon into modular buildings just east of the county building.

"Your biggest asset in this county are your employees," Jones said.

But Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos had some reservations about funding the courthouse expansion, at least until after the building of a new jail.

"I don't want to vote on something like this, put together all our funding on a project like this, then find out we're behind the eight ball because we haven't done the jail first," Liakopoulos said.

But Eastley, who serves on the county inspection committee for the jails, said the county is under no pressure to build a new one.

"I've never been told by anybody, within the county, state or federal government, that we're under any mandate to build a new facility," Eastley said. "I don't think anybody on this board would argue that our biggest liabilities are in the jail. We already know that. That's why we've been so diligent about working to complete our inspections every quarter."

Jones said a report last year estimated a new jail would cost $19 million, and Eastley said that doesn't include furnishings and additional employees. The sheriff's department would move to the new jail, which tentatively is being considered for a county parcel on East Mesquite Avenue.

Jones said if the sheriff moves to a new jail building, and the district attorney's office moves into the sheriff's offices, there would still be a need for additional room for the courts.

But of the jail project Jones said, "That's something totally separate you guys have been working on for 10 years. I'm looking at what we need for the county employees. They were given inadequate space 10 years when we moved into that (courthouse) building."

Borasky broke the impasse, asking commissioners to hire an architect to design the courthouse addition, but Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver suggested soliciting a firm to pursue a design-build option. That firm could give the county an estimate of the cost as well as design the product, Carver said.

Assistant County Manager Pam Webster concurred: "That's the only way you're going to see costs under control."

Webster said county commissioners should come up with a plan for arranging medium-term financing instead of allocating $3.6 million now for the courthouse expansion and $2 million for the Calvada Eye building renovations in six months.

At the July 13 meeting, Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill made the motion to spend $3.6 million to expand the county courthouse, after which the facilities committee would meet to decide which departments will occupy the Calvada Eye building.

County Clerk Sam Merlino seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.