Courthouse expands to house swelling caseload

PALMER — More people in the Mat-Su Valley means more people committing crimes.

To accommodate the area’s swelling court system, construction is progressing on a more than $5 million, 15,000-square-foot addition to the Palmer Courthouse. The upgrade and expansion at the facility is expected to help alleviate crowded spaces and heavier caseloads, court officials say.

“It will give us the chambers necessary to accommodate judges instead of having to share a room with a law clerk,” said Teresa Shaw, clerk of court for the courthouse.

Sharing rooms isn’t the only issue employees face, Shaw said. One magistrate uses a storage room as an office while others share spaces meant for fewer people. In addition to more space, the expansion will allow judicial officers to have office and work areas more appropriate and in a logical configuration to each other. The expansion also includes the addition of three courtrooms, which will bring the total at the Palmer Courthouse to eight.

“When the expansion is complete it will give us a court for each of the judicial officers,” Shaw said.

Butch Ehmann, owner of F-E Contracting, said work on the building began in June, and the addition and remodel of the main building is scheduled for completion in May 2008. After May, the only work left to complete will be landscaping. With 29,050 square feet of existing space, the addition will create a 44,050-square-foot courthouse that’s more than 51 percent larger. The project’s $5,368,000 contract also includes renovations to mechanical and sprinkler systems in existing areas of the complex.

Wendy Lyford, area court administrator, said the current construction is about eight years removed from a 1999 expansion that added two new courtrooms, but that addition hasn’t been enough to handle population growth in the Valley.

“There’s been multiple years of double-digit caseload increase,” Lyford said.

According to the Alaska Court Systems Annual Report for 2006, from 2004 to 2006, superior court cases filings increased by 8 percent. District court filings increased by 22 percent.

Not only has the size of courthouse growing larger, during her 10 years of employment there Lyford has seen staff swell by two superior court judges and another two district court judges. Overall, the Palmer Courthouse is home to four superior court judges, three district court judges and one magistrate. The project also includes taking advantage of the old Valley Hospital building. Future plans call for the building to be used as space for jury assembly and grand jury assembly. Another part of the building is planned to house state offices.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.