The new-look Joplin City Council held their first regularly scheduled meeting Monday night.
The largest item onlast night's agenda was the proposed multi-million dollar downtown justice center.
KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
While the council has debated for months what the center should look like, amenities that should be included, the size, and perhaps most importantly the cost, the consensus from council members last night was that the body wanted to pause continued justice center discussion until after the Presidential election in November.
Currently, the new home for the Joplin police, fire, and courts department is estimated to cost between $66.5 and 68.850 million dollars. It would also nearly double the square footage of the city's current facilities.
The existing structures allow for about 56,000 square feet. The proposed center would increase that number to just over 95,000. Joplin Mayor Kenan Cortez spoke last night.
“What the chair is hearing and what I think I’m feeling up here is there might be a consensus around the fact that the question of is the timing right and I’m hearing maybe it may not be.”
New council member Doris Carlin suggested that the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce could assist in assembling a citizen committee to prepare for further council discussions.
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