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Courtroom expansion project making progress

6 min read
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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

President Judge John DiSalle, right, and Court Administrator Patrick Grimm stand inside the future Courtroom No. 7 that is under construction in the Washington County Courthouse.

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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

President Judge John DiSalle and Court Administrator Patrick Grimm walk through the new courtroom currently under construction in the Washington County Courthouse.

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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

The ceiling of the future Courtroom No. 7, which is under construction in the first floor of the Washington County Courthouse, sits directly below the floor of Courtroom No. 1 on the second floor.

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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

A view of the courthouse renovation project before the vaults were removed earlier this month

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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

This photo taken in February 2022 shows the former register of wills office in the Washington County Courthouse before construction began to convert it into Courtroom No. 7.

For the past two months, construction workers have been laboring overnight inside the Washington County Courthouse transforming the former register of wills and prothonotary offices into the judicial center’s newest courtroom.

Scaffolding and support beams currently fill the area around where two towering vaults once held marriage licenses and wills for more than a century after the courthouse opened at the turn of the 20th century.

But the space soon will become a state-of-the-art courtroom that county officials are planning to still incorporate the courthouse’s elegant and historic design.

“I think we’re pleased with the progress,” Court Administrator Patrick Grimm said. “It’s going to be in that same style as the historic (courtrooms).”

Construction began in mid-January and is part of a two-phase project to repurpose the register of wills office into the seventh courtroom and to renovate Courtroom No. 6 after it was built in the former of recorder of deeds office nearly two decades ago. Just next door where the prothonotary office once was, there will be chambers for the judge and new office space for his or her staff.

It’s a breathtaking change for the first floor near the courthouse’s front doors that had always held the register of wills and prothonotary offices, both of which were relocated to the nearby Courthouse Square office building last year.

County officials hope the new courtroom and chambers will be in use later this summer to allow for the judge and staff to move in. The Washington County commissioners in November approved the $2.6 million project that has been planned for several years as the number of judges in the courthouse increased.

When the courthouse was completed in 1900, there were three courtrooms for the two Court of Common Pleas judges in the county. As the county’s population has expanded over the years, so too has the bench. There are now seven judges – the state Legislature approved the latest expansion in 2019 – meaning the courthouse’s basement law library has been utilized as a temporary courtroom since that time. But that arrangement was not considered a long-term solution, so space had to be made for the permanent Courtroom No. 7.

What that’s done is allow a courthouse mostly constructed in the late 19th century to get a courtroom with 21st century amenities.

“When you get down to the studs, you can make the technological upgrades you can’t make in the other traditional courtrooms,” Grimm said.

President Judge John DiSalle said the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a shutdown of court activities in early 2020 and then ongoing safety measures over the next two years, forced them to rethink how court proceedings should operate.

Technology in the courtroom is more important than ever with video conferencing available for jail inmates to attend hearings remotely or witnesses to call in to testify. There are also motions and filings that can be submitted electronically, further streamlining the process.

“One thing we learned from COVID is how to adapt to doing things remotely,” DiSalle said. “Those things were all good things that came out of (the pandemic). They got us through the crisis … and we’ve learned how to use those tools to make judicial operations more efficient.”

All of the courtrooms currently have large televisions and speaker systems to hold proceedings through video teleconferencing, if needed. But the blank slate in the new courtroom gave them then the opportunity to add more advanced technology, including better sound systems for the gallery and small television monitors for jurors and the judge.

“These walls are two layers of concrete,” DiSalle said of the courthouse. “You can’t just fish a wire through them.”

What’s been especially amazing about the process is how it will likely come in close to budget and nearly on schedule during a period where rising costs and supply-chain issues have delayed many construction projects. Grimm attributed that to regular meetings the court staff has had with the contractors and engineers to find quick solutions when problems develop.

“Everyone is around the table,” Grimm said. “We wanted a bid that didn’t have a lot of change orders.”

But they’ve also been able to salvage portions of the original décor, including marble baseboards that will be reused not only to save money, but to also “keep a hold of some of the detail that was there,” Grimm said. That includes original tables and chairs elsewhere in the building that will fill the courtroom, which is expected to be able to seat 50 to 60 people in the gallery and have a maximum occupancy of 90.

“Anywhere we can use or repurpose historic items or historic details, we’re going to do that,” Grimm said.

As for who will inhabit the newest courtroom, the jury is still out on that verdict.

Judge Michael Lucas recently quipped to DiSalle that the new courtroom would be “perfect” for a president judge. While DiSalle sheepishly acknowledged that might be true, he didn’t appear too keen on leaving his Courtroom No. 2 location on the second floor.

“It will be done by seniority,” DiSalle said about how Courtroom No. 7’s new occupant would be selected. “I suppose I will have the first choice (but) the thought about moving all but terrifies me.”

Regardless of who eventually moves into the new courtroom, DiSalle said he’s pleased about the expansion project and thanked the county commissioners for approving the renovations while also upgrading the other courtroom.

“It is exciting and I appreciate how it’s coming together for the seventh judge,” DiSalle said.

During a recent tour of the construction area, DiSalle and Grimm both marveled at the progress of the new courtroom and what it will mean for judicial proceedings now and in the future. The two enclosed vaults in the old register of wills office had already been jack-hammered away, although the hulking metal doors remained in place, giving it a similar appearance to a bank safe.

But in just a few months, those doors will be removed and auctioned off, while the rest of the room will be ready for the next generation of court proceedings.

“We don’t need it to be a bank,” Grimm said of the courtroom.

“They’re from a bygone era,” DiSalle said of the vaults.

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