Everett City Council to consider moving courtrooms
Published 10:42 pm Tuesday, January 6, 2009
EVERETT — The Everett City Council is scheduled this morning to consider setting aside $108,000 to take a closer look at moving its municipal court to its police headquarters.
Under the plan, the court would move to the current police headquarters, and police records and the police department’s top brass would move to City Hall — across the street. Police operations would stay put in the current police headquarters basement.
The money would pay for design work and cost estimates for needed renovations to accommodate the switch.
The old municipal court building at Wetmore and Pacific avenues would be torn down and turned into a parking lot, according to the latest proposal.
The city for years has grappled with what to do about the courthouse, which lacks adequate space for courtrooms, jurors and court employees.
Its two judges currently keep their chambers in a trailer with bulletproof windows.
The city in the past considered several options to give the court more elbowroom, including building a new courthouse on the same property, moving operations to the Wall Street Building and teaming up with Snohomish County in a joint project.
None of those proposals were realized.
The latest proposal would also relocate the city council chambers, which is now housed in the police headquarters. The newly refurbished chambers would be turned into a courtroom, and a new council chambers created in vacant office space on the ground floor of the city-owned Wall Street building, which holds the mayor’s office as well as other important city offices.
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. Police operations already are divided, with the south Everett precinct near Everett Mall.
City Council President Arlan Hatloe said the proposal isn’t ideal, but he supports it because it is likely to cost considerably less than building a new courthouse.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Meeting
A proposal to set aside $108,000 to move Everett’s municipal court is scheduled to go before the city council at 8:30 a.m. today. The meeting is at the City Council Chambers, 3002 Wetmore Ave., Everett.
