News

Grove Street courthouse: 'Can't do it for a million dollars'

By Bill Moss, Published: February 1, 2015

Although three commissioners came out strongly for renovation of the Grove Street Courthouse to tighten security and create more courtrooms and office space for  judiciary functions, the big renovation the board authorized a year ago may not come to pass soon.
Step one appears to be moving the tax assessor's office. Step two is paying for it. The original budget of $1 million, Thompson said, won't cut it.
"When you move the court system and the district attorney and now we have the public defender and you make some adequate courtrooms, it gets impossible," he said. "You can't do it for a million dollars. We've spent tremendous amount of time trying to determine how we're going to do this for a million dollars. It's not possible."
The only solution, Thompson said, is to move the tax assessor's office out and convert that to courtroom space.
Later, Lapsley said a tour of the building had convinced him the courthouse needs work, especially in security.