Hollister
– A letter from the governor may help secure funding to replace
San Benito County’s outdated courthouse.
Hollister – A letter from the governor may help secure funding to replace San Benito County’s outdated courthouse.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter to the state Legislature this week recommending that it approve funding for a new San Benito County Courthouse in the 2007-08 fiscal year. The county will know in May if it will receive funding for the new facility, Court Executive Officer Gil Solorio said.
A new courthouse is badly needed, San Benito County Superior Judge Steven Sanders said.
“We have the third worst courthouse in the state,” Sanders said.
The state’s Administrative Office of the Courts worked with the California Department of Finance to recommend a three-courtroom facility, Solorio said. Solorio estimated that the new facility could be about 33,000 square feet, cost $32 million and be completed in five years.
The current 12,000-square-foot courthouse lacks modern security features, along with the space to handle current caseloads and provide many legal services to the public. The facility has only two courtrooms and a small conference room used as a third courtroom to handle the family, small claims, criminal and civil calendars.
The new courthouse would nearly triple the court’s capacity.
Paul Breen, president of the San Benito County Bar Association, said new courtrooms would help the county’s caseload.
“It will help getting all the matters heard expeditiously without rushing from one court calendar to another,” Breen said.
A new courthouse would also allow the Superior Court, which now shares space with four other county departments, to house more services and equipment, said Maria Alfaro, administrative assistant for the court.
“We have staff across the street and we’d be able to bring them over,” Alfaro said.
The new courthouse would have conference rooms, a training room and enough space to store the court’s years of files and documents. The extra space would also allow for a legal self-help center for those who wish to become educated on court matters.
“It helps to have people educated,” Alfaro said. “It takes strain off the system.”
Sheriff Curtis Hill said security has also been a concern with the courthouse, which does not provide adequate safety measures for the public or prisoners attending court hearings.
“The current courthouse was not designed to accommodate the appropriate security that a courthouse needs now,” he said.
If the new courthouse receives funding, a team will be assembled to advise the state on how and where to build the courthouse, Solorio said.
With two parcels of land pledged from the city and county over the summer, the team would have options on where to place the new courthouse. The Hollister Redevelopment Agency pledged the old Fremont Elementary School site on Fourth Street, and the county has offered land adjacent to the County Jail and Juvenile Hall on Flynn Road.
County Supervisor Don Marcus said having the courthouse near the county jail would save on transportation costs in the long run.
“From that standpoint it’s a debatable issue,” Marcus said. “We have to consider that. We can’t bury our heads in the sand.”
However, Marcus said he understands the desire to keep the courthouse downtown. He said San Benito County is fortunate to have two sites from which to choose.
And before the team makes a decision, the Fremont Elementary School site must undergo a seismic evaluation.
Mayor Brad Pike, whose district includes the Fremont site, said the city will not evaluate the site until funding is secured for the new courthouse. If funding is secured, Pike believes keeping the courthouse near its current location would provide an economic stimulus to Hollister’s downtown.
“Personally, selfishly, I hope it goes in the Fremont area,” Pike said.
Breen said a courthouse should be in the most accessible area of a community.
“I think that’s a fundamental principal that is served by having a court in a downtown area,” Breen said.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or mv*********@fr***********.com.
