County discusses moving plans for justice center

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The Seward County Commissioners discussed several topics relating to the justice center during their April 11 meeting.

Potential move dates

Commissioner Diana Garske gave the following dates for when offices could potentially move following completion of the justice center.

April 25—The county attorney’s office.

April 25 or 27—The probation office.

May 5—The public defender’s office.

May 8—County and district courts.

May 9—The Extension offices move into the West Wing, where the county attorney’s office is currently located.

Commissioner Whitney Fleischman said these dates could change, especially for offices on the main floor of the justice center.

Fleischman said the main floor cannot be occupied without a second exit, which needs to be approved by the state fire marshal. She added that handrails also need to be inspected.

The fire marshal is set to inspect the justice center on April 25.

“As long as there’s no—nothing comes up—I’m pretty sure it’s all fine... but there’s that main level, so defender and probation would not be able to move until we have sign-off,” Fleischman said.

She added that after final approval from the fire marshal, the justice center will be complete.

“Everything will be done by then,” Fleischman said.

County Court Clerk Magistrate Sheila Beins said during the meeting that there are still some changes that need to be made to the justice center.

For instance, she said the generator has not been secured to the floor.

“That’s been on the list for a while,” Beins said.

Beins also said a judge’s bench has not been completed.

Additionally, some furniture for the courts has not been ordered, according to Beins. She said furniture plans were finalized April 7, and it takes seven to 10 days before the courts have a delivery date, which will be another 4-8 weeks.

“That puts us past—way past—May 8,” Beins said.

Beins also said phones and computers cannot be installed until the furniture arrives.

Beins said files are scheduled to move April 24, but the files cannot be in the new justice center while the staff is in the courthouse.

“The judges are really concerned with whether or not this is logistical,” Beins said. “Right now, it is looking like it’s not.”

Beins told the commissioners she would email them with a different move date for the courts.

Extension office move

Dennis Kahl, former Extension educator, and Carrie Gottschalk, current Extension educator, were present to discuss the Extension office’s move into the West Wing.

Kahl, who was there for Extension’s first move into what was once Ehler’s Electronics, said the office’s main concern was having enough space to operate well.

He added that the board assured Extension that their permanent space after their move would be greater than or equal to their former location in terms of square footage.

Kahl said the West Wing could serve the Extension office well if it has the entire eastern part of the building and some renovations take place.

Currently, the County Emergency Manager has two offices in the east part of the West Wing.

Gottschalk said programming is the main function of the Extension office.

“How do you expect us to do that without the space to do it?” Gottschalk said.

The commissioners had previously discussed the possibility of the emergency manager’s office moving to the courthouse. The topic was to be discussed during the April 18 meeting.

Kahl said the Extension office was not given a choice to move.

The former Extension office was located where the justice center now stands.

Beins said that many offices were not given a choice of moving. She said there are space and security issues at the current courthouse, and while security issues will be solved with the new justice center, space may still be an issue.

“None of us have really gained any square footage,” Beins said, adding that the justice center is better organized, which may help with storage.

“We’re trying to make the best thing work and we have to make sure we’re able to do our job. We’re trying to work together to make everything run smoothly instead of rushing into it and causing more problems.”

Public defender’s office

Seward County Public Defender Tina Marroquin spoke to the commissioners about modifications to her office in the justice center.

She said the office has overhead cabinets, however, they are about 10 inches in depth and do not fit file-sized documents.

“We have a lot of things to fit in that just won’t,” Marroquin said.

She also said a privacy divider on the receptionist’s desk is about 4 inches tall, which does not prevent visitors from seeing private documents or from leaning over the counter.

She said the divider needs to be roughly 2 feet.

“I don’t think it’s a big fix, it’s just a fix we need to make,” Marroquin said.

Marroquin also said her office has 45 boxes of files to keep, but only 20 are able to be stored in the justice center. She asked that the rest be stored in the courthouse.

The commissioners directed Marroquin to get quotes to make the necessary changes to her office. Marroquin estimated it may cost around $1,000 to make the changes.

Offices and surplus equipment

The commissioners also discussed what to do with offices in the justice center and surplus office equipment once all offices have moved to their new locations.

Garske said the board will have to look into designated storage spaces for each office, citing the public defender’s lack of storage space in the justice center.

“No one has enough storage,” Fleischman said.

In addition to providing storage for the offices, Garske said the treasurer’s office would like to expand its office space to the north. However, that expansion depends on if the sheriff’s department plans to keep its additional offices in the courthouse.