Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – Discussion regarding the construction of a new District Court building was presented at Monday’s Quorum Court meeting.
The discussion comes after an Intergovernmental Council meeting held in January between the Craighead County Judge’s Office and the mayors of various Craighead County cities, including Jonesboro, Lake City, Brookland, and more.
During that meeting, District Judge David Boling said the District Court’s efficiency was decreased due to a high caseload and lack of space. In addition, in the wake of the City of Jonesboro’s Justice Complex building closure due to structural issues, city staff have been moved into county offices.
At the conclusion of that meeting, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told mayors in attendance he would bring a plan for a new district court building to the Quorum Court. Monday night’s Quorum Court meeting marked Day presenting the plan to the Justices of the Peace.
“It’s been challenging to say the least. And it’s time for us to really look at building a facility,” Day told Quorum Court members.
He said the plan, provided the Quorum Court approves it, would be to use reserves to construct the new building and build a new employee parking lot. He added that to recoup construction costs, the county would “basically charge rent to the various cities based upon their case usage that would then reimburse us over time.”
Day noted that this would be a long-term repayment plan, and that “none of us will still be sitting in this chair when they get paid off.”
While no official location has been determined, Day proposed building the facility on county-owned property across the street from the Election Annex, which is located at 315 W. Jefferson Ave.
The county judge added that while the facility would house District Court, he was not committing at this time to the inclusion of other offices, such as the City of Jonesboro’s city attorney offices, warrants division, probation services, and more.
“We’ve got a lot to figure out as we bring everybody that’s involved in that together and say, ‘What’s the most efficient way to do that?'” Day said. “I’m not trying to limit or expand exactly what was in that building, but I think the conversations need to be had of exactly what’s the best way to go going forward.”
Day said the next steps for the potential project would be approving a contract with an architect regarding the building’s layout, location, and budget.