Court Officials On Fixing/Replacing Inadequacies of Facilities
A $25,000 grant has produced architectural plans for an estimated
$5,300,000 expansion and renovation to the Lamoille County Court House
in Hyde Park. Local officials are awaiting word from Montpelier on
whether or not the project will be included in next year's state budget.
Chief Justice Jeffrey Ambrose, of the Supreme Court of Vermont, advised
Lamoille County Court officials a year ago that, "Our first priority
will be to secure the necessary funding to complete the District and
Family Court in Rutland." He went on to say that projects in Washington,
Windham, Franklin and Bennington Counties were ahead of Lamoille "in
order of priority." He closed by thanking Lamoille County's two publicly
elected assistant judges for "embarking on the difficult road to provide
Judicial facilities that meet the needs of the citizens of lamoille County."
The Lamoille County Court House was originally built in 1836 because, as
a placard inside states, area residents were "tired of traveling
dangerous mountain roads to get their business settled." Destroyed by a
woodstove fire on a windy day 73 years later, it was replaced by the
current building in 1910.
As former District Court Judge Alan Cook wrote at the end of his one
year term in 2001, "This building was built for a different time in
terms of anticipated and actual use. The architectural design and
construction reflect a certain understated elegance and what was then
the norm - occasional use by small numbers of people. What we have now
is daily high volume demand."
Judge Cook went on to enumerate the many shortcomings of the nearly
century old facility. "The building was never designed with the
expectation that large numbers of criminal defendants, witnesses,
jurors, police officers, children, lawyers, prisoners, victims, the
general public and even judges would all be mingling in the same space.
Yet that is precisely what is going on every day and it threatens the
perceived and actual integrity of the judicial process. Some days the
public areas resemble Bedlam."
The laundry list cited by Cook was unsparing in its details - "office
space for the staff is terrible" - "chambers upstairs are the worst I
can remember working in" -"utilities... unable to support modern
equipment" - "'courtroom' in the cellar is a security nightmare."
In a memo to Side Judges Batchelder and Dillon, written just six weeks
after he replaced Cook, Judge Howard Van Benthuysen enumerated 14
suggestions for remedying what he termed, "significant security and
other shortcomings," recommending the following additions and
renovations: - a new ground-floor courtroom - four new private
attorney/client consultation rooms - parking lot lighting - more
spacious staff working areas - end use of basement "courtroom" - a
children's room adjacent to one of the courtrooms.
He concluded by writing, "Like many, if not most of Vermont's
courthouses... this one is beautiful and historic but highly unsafe from
a security standpoint."
Under Vermont law, District Court judges rotate every year from one
county to another, presumably to prevent entrenchment or favoritism. "It
seems a bit of an anachronism," said Van Benthuysen, during a recent
interview with the News & Citizen. Van Benthuysen, a Fairfax resident,
is presently four months into his second one year rotation in Hyde Park.
A law-trained judge, Van Benthuysen was clear in his assessment of
conditions at the courthouse, saying, "I have expressed to Chief Justice
Burgess that I think this court has grown to the point where we need at
least a 50% increase in trial judge time." Asked whether he thought the
request might be granted, he said, "I am hopeful that the executive and
legislative branches will respond favorably to any budget request the
judiciary puts forward when the new Legislature convenes in January." He
indicated that the actual state budget would be decided sometime in the
second quarter of 2005, with any expansion and renovation to the
courthouse in Hyde Park occurring "sometime afterwards."
As far as the facilities at the courthouse are concerned, Van Benthuysen
said, "Because we only have one main courtroom and the auxiliary
courtroom in the basement is really spoken for virtually all week with
other things going on, such as the traffic hearing officer, the family
court magistrate, the coping and other presentations that we do in
Family Court... in order for us to add a half-time judge we would need
to find more courtroom space." He went on to point out that, "Every time
you add on a courtroom, you also need additional support staff and parking."
Asked whether the inadequate facilities and short-staff situation might
be impacting the quality of justice, Van Benthuysen said, "No. All of us
work way more than overtime to make it work. For example, on Veterans'
Day, I came in and worked a full day and I was joined by the Probate
Judge and Judge Cashman. We have a duty to decide cases, not only
correctly and fairly, but also as quickly as possible." He said that the
Lamoille County District Court is busier now than it was when he was
here three years ago, adding that, "Family cases are the largest and
most demanding piece."
Only time will tell whether Lamoille County's courtroom requirements
will be addressed in the new year. An additional $350,000 would be
needed right away to complete final construction plans. The total
estimated costs of $5,300,000 would be paid for directly by the state if
and when they are approved.