Todd County Standard - Kentucky Press Association

Justice Center should be ready by 2012
BY ELIZABETH JOHNSON
TODD COUNTY STANDARD
After an Oct. 16, 2009
groundbreaking ceremony, Todd
County residents should expect
the completion of the Judicial
Center in mid-March 2012. The
$11.1 million project, authorized
by the Kentucky General
Assembly in 2006 with the budget
approved in 2008, has been
faced with few obstacles.
“We’ve had several delays
because of weather — a bad
winter and the rain this spring,”
said David Welker, on-site construction
manager with Codell
Construction. “Other than that
the project is going great.”
Mark Cowherd, Todd
County circuit court clerk, said
there has been some negative
feedback on spending so much
money during the recession, but
Todd County was added to the
list for a judicial center in the
1990s when the administrative
office of the courts began pushing
for updated court houses.
When the family court amendment
was passed in 2000, the
push for judicial centers became
stronger.
“It amazes me that people
still don’t realize the state is paying
for this,” said Cowherd.
“It’s not like the jail where the
county has to pay for that. The
state is paying for this, if we
had said no somebody else
would’ve got it. With the economy
like it is they’re saying why
did we do this, but they don’t
realize that it’s one of these
deals where the state is giving
them out.”
At 34,000 square feet, the
building will house two courtrooms
and offices for the circuit
court clerk, circuit and district
judges, the court designated
worker, pretrial release officers
among others. Other offices
will keep their location at the
current court house.
Cowherd said the biggest
advantage of the new judicial
center will be additional space.
Circuit and district court are
TODD COUNTY SCHOOLS
• More than 2,100 students and 400 staff.
• Two elementary schools, one middle
school one high school, one alternative
school
Our mission is to TEACH all students from a
rigorous and aligned curriculum; CARING by
building positive mentoring relationships with all
students; SERVING by using varied, research-based
instructional strategies that make learning relevant to
the needs of our students and community.
sharing the one courtroom at
the current location and when
the state budget permits, family
court will be added to the mix,
said Cowherd.
“We have to use the conference
room if we have more
than one court going on,” said
Cowherd. “It’s a logistic nightmare.
The courthouse we are
in is not that old but it was
designed before they changed
the court system in the state of
Kentucky.”
Cowherd said there are also
plans to expand the drug court
program as well as programs
aimed to prevent juvenile
crimes. Another advantage of
the new building is the setup of
the courtrooms, said Cowherd.
“As weird as it sounds,
Judge (Tyler) Gill will always tell
people, believe it or not, our
courtroom was not designed to
have trials in,” said Cowherd.
“There’s no place to separate
witnesses. There’s no place to
keep the victims or victims’
family away from the families of
the defendant. One of the big
things they pushed on these judicial
centers is to provide the
space to keep all of the parties
separated so that you can have a
trial without any problems.”
Because of the unique functions
of a courthouse, fulfilling
those needs is a priority.
“You’ve got obviously more
security and a lot more electrical
issues to deal with court houses,”
said Welker.
Having built nearly 60 courthouses
in Kentucky, Codell
Construction is familiar with the
process, but Welker said the
architects at JKS Architects and
Engineers envisioned this project
being unique to Todd County.
The building will be red brick
with a charcoal roof and limestone
detailing and columns on
the front. There will also be a circular
emblem in the front lobby
floor sporting the state slogan
and images of the old courthouse
on the square, the
Jefferson Davis Monument and
a horse in a rolling pasture.
TODD COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
205 AIRPORT ROAD
ELKTON, KENTUCKY 42220
Look for us on the internet at
www.todd.kyschools.us
270.265.2436
50 DISCOVER TODD COUNTY Todd County Standard