Shuffle may give cramped Everett court bigger digs

Published 10:40 pm Tuesday, December 30, 2008

EVERETT — The judge’s chambers at Everett Municipal Court are about as unpretentious as judge’s chambers go.

A cramped trailer with faux wood paneling and bulletproof glass is where the city court’s two judges keep their offices and conduct legal research.

“It’s not palatial by any means,” said Carlton Gipson, Everett’s facilities director.

Still, it’s an improvement from the judges’ old digs: an even smaller jury room at the end of a narrow hallway.

The city for years has grappled with what to do about the courthouse, which lacks adequate space for courtrooms, jurors and court employees.

The city has considered several options, including building a new one on the same property, moving operations to the Wall Street Building and joining Snohomish County to build a new $169 million justice center across the street.

All of those suggestions fell through.

Now, the city is considering a game of musical chairs.

Under the latest idea, municipal court would move to the current police headquarters, which would send police records and the police department’s top brass packing for City Hall, one building down the street. Police operations would stay put in the current police headquarters basement.

Under the plan, the deteriorating municipal court building at Wetmore and Pacific avenues would be torn down and turned into a parking lot.

The council chambers, which is now housed in the police headquarters, would be turned into a courtroom, and a new council chambers created in vacant office space on the ground floor of the Wall Street building.

While the move would solve the problem of crowding at the courthouse, it would create its own problem by splitting the police department’s headquarters in half. Police operations are already split, with the south Everett precinct near Everett Mall.

Even so, several city officials including Police Chief Jim Scharf consider the relocation plan pragmatic.

“Municipal Court is cramped,” Scharf said. “They definitely deserve a larger workspace for all of their personnel and for the betterment of the public they serve. We’re willing to work with them to do what’s best for everybody.”

Incoming City Council President Arlan Hatloe said the council chambers likely would grow by dozens of seats if it moves to the Wall Street Building.

The current hearing room often is standing room only during important meetings. The overflow audience is forced to view the meetings on closed-circuit television sets in the lobby or in a conference room.

Another benefit of the move, Hatloe said, is the court would remain close to Snohomish County Superior Court and the county jail.

“It may not be a perfect plan, but it’s a reasonable plan where we can utilize existing facilities,” he said. “I think it’s a wise use of taxpayers’ money.”

The City Council is scheduled to vote in early January on a measure that would set aside $108,000 to take a closer look at the relocation proposal.

While no one knows exactly how much the move will cost, supporters say it should be considerably less than constructing a new courthouse.

“This was a temporary building when they started,” Municipal Court Judge David Mitchell said, walking through one of the building’s two courtrooms.

To free up space for court employees, the city recently sent the Municipal Court’s Probation Department to a leased downtown office building.

Mitchell and Municipal Court Presiding Judge Tim O’Dell handle thousands of misdemeanor domestic-violence assault cases and major traffic cases each year.

The city court system has seen its caseload steadily rise with population growth, the addition of police officers and policy changes.

In 2007, the court handled about 32,000 vehicle and criminal filings. That number in 2009 is expected to jump to 47,000.

A recent study completed by Omni-Group Inc. of Los Angeles found that Everett Municipal Court has about half the space it needs.

The city paid $20,000 for its share of the study, which was part of a larger effort to build support for expanding the current county courthouse into a $163.2 million regional justice complex housing superior, district and municipal courts, as well as offices for court clerks, prosecutors and public defenders.

County Executive Aaron Reardon in July blocked the measure from getting on the November ballot, saying he vetoed it because the project is too large and ill-timed.

Everett City Council President Drew Nielsen said Municipal Court has been in a bad situation for a long time.

A temporary judge who worked for the city wrote a letter to city officials complaining that the building was inadequate. Every time a person flushed a toilet in the bathroom near the jury room, the noise was so loud, he wrote, jurors would have to stop deliberations.

However, Nielsen said he isn’t convinced the plan is the best option for the city.

The city recently paid a half-million dollars to overhaul the council chambers and an adjoining government-access television studio.

Developing a public safety building to house administrative offices for the police and fire departments is one alternative to the move, Nielsen said.

The current Everett Fire Department headquarters downtown needs a seismic retrofit. Bringing the building to code could cost well over $1 million. That money might be better spent on a joint police and fire building, he said.

“We need to look at this very carefully and get a better handle on what the actual costs would be,” Nielsen said. “Really, it’s one of these situations where there are disadvantages anywhere you look.”

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.