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Indianapolis and Marion County Officials have unveiled a proposal to have a private company build a new consolidated Justice Center that would house the county’s Criminal Courts, an expanded state of the art Marion County Jail, the Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Detention Center, plus offices for the Prosecutor, Probation, Community Corrections and Public Defender.  It’s a proposal that’s been studied for decades but now is being seriously proposed.  Estimates of the cost of the new complex range upwards of a half billion dollars. It’s been suggested the complex could be located at the old airport, the Lafayette Square area, the old Chevrolet Truck & Bus plant or other unused locations in town.  The proposal from the Ballard Administration is controversial as it would have a private company put up the cash, take the risk and then lease the building back to the city/county fore a number of years in return for rent.  Appearing in separate interviews on Afternoons with Amos, Marion County Sheriff John Layton and Mayor Greg Ballard’s Communications Director Marc Lotter explained why the plan would work and the benefits for residents and taxpayers.  However many questions have yet to be answered, including the actual cost to taxpayers, why having the private sector is better than the public sector constructing the project, whether there would be opportunities for ex-offenders to be employed on the project and expansion of minority contracting goals.  Listen to Sheriff Layton and Marc Lotter and see how responsive or non responsive they were to our questions about the project. Questions and reservations shared by many Indianapolis/Marion County residents.  Click the Arrows to Hear Amos’ Interviews with Sheriff John Layton and Marc Lotter. ©2013 WTLC/Radio One. Sheriff Layton Runs 31 Minutes   Marc Lotter Runs 24 Minutes