KALISPELL, Mont.—With Elevatus leading the design charge, Flathead County is moving forward on a large new Public Safety Facility.
The team has envisioned a modern, 118,000-square-foot facility—still in its design phase— designed to serve Flathead County well into the future. Among its key elements are Sheriff’s department administrative space, evidence storage and processing areas, a courtroom, approximately 200 general housing beds, and a special housing unit with more than 30 beds. The master plan additionally makes considerations for future expansion, supporting potential growth as community needs develop.
The project was spurred by Flathead County’s understanding that it had outgrown its existing jail and Sheriff’s department—an aging facility that no longer effectively handled the growing community’s needs. Outdated systems, outgrown spaces and operational inefficiencies had become a challenge, and made recruiting and retaining staff a major issue.
Elevatus, with its established design portfolio of impressive public safety and detention facilities, was tabbed to assist the county envision a long-term solution. The firm embraced the project with deep respect for the County’s operational situation, and via a series of working sessions with stakeholders and end users the design team styled the facility’s layout to optimize day-to-day workflows. The integration of dayroom showers directly into the housing units—a subtle change offering meaningful gains in supervision and movement efficiency—is just one example of this.
While the project is still in design, it has already become a stimulus for forward momentum, and Flathead County is actively engaging the public to share the vision, build support, and lay the groundwork for a safer and more resilient tomorrow.
