BUFFALO — Almost four years after it opened in late 2020, the Wright County Justice Center has, at long last, been officially dedicated.
On Thursday, Sept. 19, members of the Minnesota Supreme Court along with current and former county commissioners dedicated the 155,000-square-foot Justice Center on Braddock Avenue in Buffalo, home to the county’s nine courtrooms.
Typically, when a county or city has a project that requires a ribbon and a pair of giant scissors, the jurisdiction conducts a grand opening with as much pomp and circumstance as possible, but that wasn’t possible back in October 2020, as the world was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While other aspects of life slowly returned to normal, the state courts didn’t get restrictions lifted until April 20, 2022. And since then, getting schedules to jibe was no small task.
When Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson made her first visit to the county campus last month for the ceremony, she was impressed by the scope of the facility — a far cry from the previous courts area at the old Government Center in downtown Buffalo.
“Let’s just say that the Judicial Council is delighted to be here at the Wright County Justice Center,” Hudson said. “When I drove up to the Center, all I could say was, ‘Wow!’ It is just a beautiful facility and a campus. It’s just stunning. As I walked in (I could see) how carefully things seem to be arranged.”
About eight years ago, the 10th Judicial District put Wright County on notice that if there weren’t significant upgrades made, the judges would not stay in Buffalo — citing safety concerns for judges and witnesses that were extremely deficient and not being addressed in the old Government Center.
The judges added that a remodel of the current facility was not an option because the courts facilities were antiquated and woefully behind in technological capability.
Making the changes wouldn’t come cheap. The new Justice Center came in with a price tag of $42 million and was quickly followed by a new Government Center with a construction cost of another $48 million.
Fortunately, Wright County got its bid packages approved before COVID nearly doubled many of the construction costs.
Wright County Board Chairman Darek Vetsch said it was the hardest ask from Wright County taxpayers to make a 50-plus-year infrastructure investment, and the commissioners took more than their share of heat from constituents.
“No great things come without great debate,” Vetsch said. “This building was no exception. I could imagine the debate when they tried to build the Great Pyramids. Living through this debate there were many questions as to when it should be built, where it should be built and how much should be spent building it. I know most of you in this room must love a good debate.”
Hudson said she understood the difficulty of the decision to design a building that will likely still be standing at the end of the century.
“This building symbolizes Wright County’s commitment to the community and the commitment to what it represents in equality and fairness,” Hudson said.
Vetsch was among a handful of commissioners who accepted the dedication plaque, saying that hard knocks and bumps in the road will be viewed by history as being fortunate — getting in while pricing was much better than if it had got kicked down the road.
“The reason we built this to the scale that we did is because it is here to last the legacy of time,” Vetsch said. “It is a strong representation of some of the pillars we have. In the United States, the judicial system being one of those great pillars that protects and insures our freedoms and our rights. Having this facility here and having the resources that it has is a fine representation of those freedoms.”
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