New city court won't happen, judge says

The city offered to refurbish a downtown building for a temporary courthouse.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A planned new municipal court is dead, said Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr., the court's presiding and administrative judge.
Judge Douglas, of Youngstown Municipal Court, met Thursday with city officials and was told the city isn't in a position to borrow the nearly $8 million needed for the proposed new court.
For the past eight years, the municipal court judges have collected $14 court fees for the proposed facility.
To date, that fund has more than $1 million, Judge Douglas said. That money was to be used for furnishing the new building as well as for the purchase of court technology, including computers, and to pay for security, he said.
The judges originally wanted the court on Wood Street, near the Mahoning County jail. But the cost of acquiring that property and demolishing the buildings there was cost-prohibitive, Judge Douglas said.
City officials and the three municipal judges decided the site of the recently demolished former Masters buildings on West Federal Street was the best option. That's because the city owns the property and the buildings are gone, the judge said.
Surplus
The city ended 2005 with a $2.8 million surplus but allocated that money for capital improvement projects and for an increased amount of demolition of dilapidated buildings, mostly houses.
"I don't know what happened where these other projects superseded the need for this" courthouse, Judge Douglas said. "It's a great disappointment. I don't see this [new court] happening for years and I don't see a viable alternative."
Jason Whitehead, the mayor's chief of staff/secretary who was among the city officials to meet Thursday with the judge, said the city offered alternatives to a new courthouse. But Judge Douglas wasn't interested, Whitehead said.
'Transitional facility'
The city offered to spend about $2 million to $3 million for a "transitional court facility," Whitehead said.
"We could convert an old warehouse or use some of the 100,000 square feet of empty office space we have downtown or use the city hall annex on a temporary basis," he said. "None are the perfect location. Judge Douglas wants a new courthouse and he's not interested in temporary options."
Judge Douglas said space and security are two key problems at the court facility on city hall's second floor.
"You can't secure this place," he said. "A courthouse isn't just another building. It has to be designed to make it safe for everyone. It's very depressing to have to remain in these facilities."
The court facility is ill-prepared to stop a major tragedy from happening there, Judge Douglas said.
"I don't know what we can do," he said. "There's really no secondary solution. You can't do something like this piecemeal. This situation is kind of bleak."
Whitehead agrees the current court space is inadequate.
skolnick@vindy.com