“The needs of the center were just totally underestimated, from what I’m finding,” said Councilwoman Sunny Simon, who chairs the justice affairs committee. “I’m not sure if it was lack of planning or just lack of understanding of what was going to be involved with getting this operational.”

Simon and her colleagues toured the center this month, gaping at a $25,000 custom-made conference table, $21,500 in staff exercise equipment and a $5,100 Viking fridge in the magistrates’ lounge.

They are now being asked to approve digital audio equipment and computer contracts, totaling $2.3 million. Each of the judges are requesting three computers, said court Administrator Marita Kavalec — one for their office, one for the bench and one for audio-visual recording.

No one’s assuming blame for the tower of costs.

The commissioners signed off on all spending up to December, but they point to a lawsuit judges filed over the East 93rd and Quincy Avenue site and a 2006 settlement that mandated the county hire a South Carolina court-planning firm and that the complex include a full-service cafeteria, among other things.

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county  /index.ssf/2011/03/juvenile_justice_cen ter_cost_grows_as_cuyahoga_county_counci l_considers_change_orders.html