The ribbon-cutting for the City of Great Bend’s new Justice Center at 12th and Baker was over a month ago, but the Police Department and Municipal Court have yet to move into the facility, City Administrator Brandon Anderson told the City Council Monday night.

“This has kind of been itching at (Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns) and I,” Anderson said. They have pressed really hard on both the construction contractor as well as the architect on the Justice Center completion, he said.

“The effective completion date was supposed to be Nov. 10,” he said. But, they are still not comfortable signing off on a certification of occupancy, the document that represents the successful completion.

As of Monday, the vestibule doors were not totally fixed and operable, although Anderson said that was going to be resolved by week’s end. 

But, “we do have a drainage issue on the north side of that building” made evident by the recent rain, he said. “And that’s the area where the most handicap parking is for the public.”

They have “had some conversations back and forth,” Anderson said. They have even had an independent surveyor come in to work with the architect. 

“They are trying to get that turned around as quickly as possible.”

He said they anticipated news on this issue this week, but it won’t be resolved until Nov. 27. “So we’re still in some limbo. Obviously all of us want to get moved into that nice facility. But we want to make sure it’s functional before we turn it over from the contractors.” 

Ground was broken for the 20,000-square-foot facility on Sept. 12, 2022. Great Bend voters in November 2021 approved a 0.10% sales tax to help fund the project, which cost nearly $9 million.

Wichita construction firm McCown Gordon is the project manager. GLMV Architecture of Wichita was selected as the architect.