The Crook County Justice Center (left) and the Ochoco Irrigation District's Pump Station Project were among 53 projects honored. (Central Oregonian)

Two Crook County projects were recently honored by the Daily Journal of Commerce as 2025 Top Projects.

The Crook County Justice Center and the Ochoco Irrigation District’s Pump Station Project were among 53 projects honored by the publication.

The honors were bestowed on projects completed in 2024 and the event was held at the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland on June 12. The honors went to projects that “improved structures, changed skylines and overcame obstacles to achieve greatness.”

Justice Center

The Crook County Justice Center opened to the public at a ribbon cutting ceremony held last September. It concluded a process that started nearly four years earlier in response to county justice and law enforcement departments outgrowing available space.

The justice center was made possible by voter approval of a $35 million bond measure in November 2020. The building, like the courthouse, stands three stories tall but it is 68,800 square feet, nearly triple the approximately 23,000 square feet of space available for justice services in the courthouse.

The building cost $51 million to complete and came in a small amount under budget, despite some change orders and the purchase and development of two extra lots for parking.

The first floor will house the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and the County Juvenile Department. The District Attorney’s Office and Victim’s Advocate office will occupy the second floor and public defense will be housed on the third floor. The top two floors also feature a total of three courtrooms of at least 10,000 square feet in size.

The building solves several issues that faced the local justice system, one of which was security. At the courthouse, incarcerated defendants typically entered the courtroom through the same accesses used by the public and justice personnel, creating potential safety risks.

The new justice center includes a completely secure area removed from public access through which justice system staff and incarcerated defendants enter and exit the courtrooms. The building also features holding cells on each floor for adult and juvenile inmates.

Pump Station

The pump plant replacement, which took place over the course of a year at the corner of Combs Flat and Laughlin roads, is part of a multiphase project that is funded through a grant from Natural Resources Conservation Service. About $13 million of that grant funded phase one.

The modernized replacement station features vertical turbines instead of the split-case horizontal turbines visible at the prior station. In addition, part of the effort included the upgrade of a water pipe going into the plant that is located beneath Combs Flat Road between Third Street and Laughlin Road. The pipe was upsized from 60 inches to 78 inches in diameter.

As Ochoco Irrigation District replaced the pump station and implemented the Crooked River Collaborative Water Security Act, it provided more water to irrigators in the area of the McKay Switch project.