MANSFIELD — Richland County commissioners on Thursday approved a design contract that will lead to a fourth courtroom for the Common Pleas general division judges.
The move to use $45,500 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the design comes almost three years after judges Brent Robinson and Phil Naumoff made the request for additional space through a letter in May 2021.
Design work is expected to take three to four months. But construction of the fourth courtroom is not expected to begin until the fourth quarter of 2024, delayed until the Clerk of Courts office is moved into its new spaces on “L2,” likely in September.
The design work on the estimated 2,700-square foot space will be done by Brad Mauer of Mauer Architectural Design Studio and Craig Christie with Karpinski Engineering, commissioners said.
“It’s a project that’s been a long time coming,” county administrator Andrew Keller said.
“The court has explained the need for this over a series of months and even years. This courtroom will be located in the space being evacuated by the Clerk of Courts as they move to L2.
He said the new courtroom will be located in “close proximity” to the court’s current operations.
“It’s a unique construction project. I would suggest imagining your favorite courtroom drama. And then you can picture how unique of a project this is.
“For example, judge’s box. Platform. Chairs. Witness box chairs. Jury’s box platform and seating. Court reporter box. Bailiff bench. Tables for (legal) counsel. It’s unique to a courtroom setting. There’s no other really comparable, other than a courtroom environment.
“There will be a lot of custom built furniture to meet the needs of the court,” said Keller, an attorney himself.
He said Robinson and Naumoff will continue to be involved in the project.
“They have had a seat at the table in getting to this point in our conversations with our architect and they’ll continue to be key partners throughout the project. This courtroom is being built to better assist the operations of the court,” Keller said.
In their 2021 letter to commissioners with also court operations impacted by the COVID pandemic, the two judges said their three general division magistrates had been using a single hearing room for a variety of civil hearings and bench trials, criminal arraignments, bond and stalking hearings and other court-related events.
The judges also told commissioners COVID had required them to move jurors from jury boxes to public seating areas of the courtroom for social distancing and move spectators to lower courthouse levels to remotely view the proceedings.
They also have had to swap courtrooms and use other rooms for jury deliberations and jury selection to avoid crowding in the courtrooms and the hallways outside.
The judges also cited changes in laws and rules regarding court procedures that require faster court appearances.
Keller said, “The court docket never decreases in this litigious world we live in. As rules have changed, the expediency of some of the cases have also increased such that the court has to be ready to run multiple hearings simultaneously.”
He said the project would create additional space for jury and conference rooms.
“But the majority of the space will be dedicated to the courtroom area and spectator space,” Keller said.
In order for ARPA funds to be used, the money must be appropriated by the end of 2024 and all work must be complete by the end of 2026.
A formal estimate for the construction won’t be done until the design is complete. But Commissioner Tony Vero said they expect it to cost “several hundred thousand dollars.”
