Imagine the Mower County Board of Commissioners as interior designers. That’s what they have become, during the Mower County Jail and Justice Center project.

Will it be carpet tile or broadloom? Porcelain or ceramic in bathrooms? A dozen or more other questions: Carpet texture, paint or vinyl wall coverings, wood finishes, veneers, plastic laminate, steel-concrete and no floor covering, direct or indirect lighting and door handles.

Mike Clark, lead architect for KKE Architects, Inc., Minneapolis, introduced Roxanne L. DeCoster, a certified KKE Architects. Inc. interior designer to the Mower County Board of Commissioners Wednesday morning. A week ago, KKE’s Clark led a discussion of the jail and justice center’s “footprint” over two downtown city blocks. This week, the focus was the interior of the facilities. It included the front entry way to the interior lobby, down every hallway, up the stairs to the second-story court level, into courtrooms, offices, storerooms and restrooms, jail housing units and the rest of the 128-bed, two-story jail and justice center.

In all, DeCoster took the commissions on a virtual tour of the interior of the proposed $36-million facilities.

“What we’re trying to do is warm up the facility,” DeCoster announced as she showed commissioners carpet and floor tilling samples in the board room.

Once again, Tim Gabrielson, First District commissioner-elect, joined the commissioners in going over the interior details of the new facilities.

DeCoster pressed the commissioners for a decision on her interior design recommendations. “Are we okay with this generally?” she asked.

DeCoster’s recommendations came after visiting with Patricia Ball, Mower County district court administrator, and the sitting judges: The Honorable Donald E. Rysavy and Fred Wellmann.

Clark emphasized that KKE Architects, Inc. had done their best at “value engineering” or designing a facility that was not pretentious, but clearly within acceptable jail/justice center standards.

DeCoster called her interior design work a “broad brush.”

The meeting was not confrontational: DeCoster and Clark presented their findings, the commissioners listened and asked questions.

“It’s got to have an institutional look. This isn’t a resort we’re building,” said Ray Tucker, Second District.

After an hour of discussion Wednesday, Richard P. Cummings, First District and chairman of the board, asked the commissioners their opinions on the DeCoster and Clark presentation.

All expressed agreement: They liked what they saw and heard.

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, said that false perceptions could skewer the facilities’ reality.

“What looks like a Taj Mahal to some people may be only an issue of function: What works best,” county coordinator Craig Oscarson said.

By consensus, the commissioners gave the KKE pair, DeCoster and Clark, their permission to proceed with more interior design details.