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Consolidation big benefit for new justice center

By Becky Campbell
Press Staff Writer
bcampbell@johnsoncitypress.com

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By the end of this month Washington County courtrooms in Jonesborough and Johnson City will grow quiet, the clerk’s office will darken and court personnel will likely make their last move – to consolidate all services into one location.

It’s officially the George Jaynes Justice Center and it smells like fresh paint and echoes like a cavern at the moment. That will likely change once furniture is moved in and people are moving about in the facility.

The long-awaited courthouse/justice center is nearing completion, with workers putting finishing touches on it as court employees count down the final days before opening.

There might not be anyone more proud of the center than Jaynes himself, and he won’t even have an office there. The county mayor’s been a constant presence at the site during construction, regularly checking on the progress, said Kevin Berry, project contractor from Burwill Construction Co.

The complex isn’t limited to just a courthouse, judicial chambers and clerk’s offices. It’s connected to an expansion of the Washington County Detention Center and the new quarters for the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Ed Graybeal and his officers already occupy their section. The department finalized its move the first weekend this month.

The sheriff’s office is an area the public won’t have much opportunity to see on a regular basis, but the courthouse section is a different story.

The 77,000-square-foot facility occupies more space than both current courthouses combined. There are seven courtrooms – one for each judge – and nearly 900 public seats available if all courts were operating at the same time.

Each courtroom entrance has a distinct polished block aggregate framing.

“It’s made like regular concrete block, but they use colored cement and special aggregates and then they cast them and they’re individually polished,” Berry said.

Each rounded corner block is hand polished for a smooth finish, he said.

The tiny stone in the concrete mix of the block came from the mountains of Asheville, N.C., where the company that made the block is based.

Berry said Ken Ross Architects selected the design and the Building Committee chose the colors.

The Justice Center will have one public entrance, unlike the Jonesborough courthouse’s front and side entrance, and sheriff’s officers will operate metal detectors to ensure continued safety at the courthouse.

On the first floor, the public will find Sessions and Criminal courtrooms and to the right of the entrance is the clerk’s office for those courts.

The public will also find there is a greater level of security for the clerk’s office.

The counter is protected by glass, communication with the clerks will be accomplished through a talk vent and documents will be passed through a slot.

“I’d like to thank the taxpayers for this beautiful building they’ve given us and I pledge to work as hard as I can to get fees and court costs in here to help pay for it,” said Circuit Court Clerk Karen Guinn.

Guinn was able to use money left in her budget from last year to help purchase desks and other office furniture for the clerks to use in the Justice Center.

Otherwise, they would be taking the old desks they’ve been using for years, many of which have been repaired several times.

What the budget money didn’t buy, Guinn pitched in herself from proceeds she earned in commission fees from county property sales.

“I had $12,400 of commission fees where I sold property that I gave to the furniture fund for my offices,” she said. The County Commission had to approve the donation, but Guinn said she wanted to do it so her employees would have new furniture in the new building.

Guinn’s offices are on both floors – Criminal, Sessions and Juvenile Court on the first floor and Circuit Court, which will combine Circuit Court from Jonesborough and Law Court from Johnson City, on the second floor.

Offices for the Sessions judges – James Nidiffer and Robert Lincoln – and the Criminal Court judges – Lynn Brown and Robert Cupp – are on the first floor behind the courtrooms.

Also on the first floor, around to the left of the entrance, is the district attorney general’s office.

District Attorney General Tony Clark said the space allocation for his office took place long before he was elected in 2005, and since then his office has grown.

“We presently have 20 people that will be moving into the new Justice Center. We’ve been allotted a space of around 11 to 12 offices and I have 20 people,” he said.

“Whoever designed the DA’s portion didn’t take into account that we would be expanding as much as we did,” he said.

Even at the time of the design, the DA’s office in Jonesborough and Johnson City had around 16 or 17 employees – still more than the number of offices in the new location.

“It’s going to be a tight fit to get all those people in,” Clark said. He is already having to look for office space to parcel some employees out.

”Right now I’m trying to work out an arrangement to have my drug prosecutor, who I’d prefer to have here, to work out of the DTF office,” he said.

Clark may also have to put one of his victim witness coordinators in another county.

“I’m not pointing the finger at any one individual ... we just don’t have the space for the people right now,” he said.

“In comparison to what some of the other offices look like in comparison to the ratio of people to office space, it looks like the DA’s office has the least,” Clark said. “We do have space (and) we’ll make do with what we have and be thankful for it.”

With so much worry about squeezing his staff into the office space, Clark also has to think about file storage – thousands of files state law requires him to keep forever.

“Right now in the new office, the space allotted for files will hold about 10 or 15 percent of what we need to keep court going,” he said.

It’s likely he’ll have to maintain storage at the old courthouse or find a private facility to keep the documents.

On the second level, accessed by elevator or stairs to the right of the front entrance, space seems to be no problem.

There are three large courtrooms for Circuit and Chancery Court where Judge Jean Stanley, Judge Tom Seeley and Chancellor Richard Johnson will hold court.

In addition to Guinn’s second-floor office, Clerk and Master Brenda Sneyd’s office also is on the second floor.

Those offices are to the right of the stairs and elevator while the probate office is located to the far left.

While the Justice Center’s outer appearance seems majestic with its tall front windows, the best view is from the second-floor lobby.

Those windows offer a wide view of Buffalo Mountain that will reveal all the seasonal changes East Tennessee has to offer.