Sheriff Jim Hammond and Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean are eyeing utilizing some of this space at the first floor of the Courts Building at the north end by Sixth Street
Sheriff Jim Hammond and Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean both said they are in need of additional space at the Courts Building and are studying a way to get it.
Sheriff Hammond said one idea is to move the concession area from the ground floor to the north wall of the first floor of the building by Sixth Street.
He noted that a new entrance to the building is set to open off Market Street onto the first floor.
Sheriff Hammond said it would give the concessions more visibility and should mean more income for blind vendors.
The concession area at one time included hot meals, but now has just machine drinks and candy.
The sheriff said he would like to move his IT Department into the vacated concession area.
However, he said, "We are early in the planning process and it still has to go through several committees."
Criminal Court Clerk Dean said his office is hampered by the fact that it does not have a conference room.
He said he has to borrow a vacant courtroom or jury area when he meets with lead clerks or other groups of his 64-member staff.
Clerk Dean said some meetings are held down on the ground floor, but he said that takes top clerks in his office well away from their posts when they are needed quickly.
He said one plan would be to move the county workhouse records into a newly created space on the first floor at the north end of the building - near where the concessions would go.
The workhouse records office is now at the north end by the Criminal Court Clerk's office.
Mr. Dean said his staff could then use the current workhouse records space for a conference room.