Courtroom grant application finds support from board

The town’s justice court received a recent grant of nearly $17,000 to convert its storage room into usable space. The justices want to see a conference room that would act as a holding area for criminals awaiting trial.

The catch is that in order to do so, there are certain requirements that must be met. One mandate is there be an exterior entrance way into the courtroom. That’s not so easy, according to town Supervisor Gregg Pulver, who addressed the matter at last Thursday’s Town Board meeting.

“Because [the existing courtroom] does not have an outside entrance, they are now going to reapply to get an additional $19,000 to do an outside entrance identical to what we have as a fire escape [door in Town Hall],� he said. The town’s court is located in the Town Hall building, as is the police station.

The fact that there is no such space in the existing courtroom could lead to a “real safety situation,� according to Town Justice Christi Acker, who appeared before the Town Board on Aug. 21 to discuss the matter. At that time she referred to a recent shooting in a Rockland County town court, where there were not enough precautions to keep the court personnel safe.

“The state has safety concerns,� she said.

The town already has some money put aside for the project. The court has grant dollars on hand.

“They’ve got $19,000 so far, and that money doesn’t come until we start building,� Pulver said. “It’s a reimbursement grant. It’s quote, unquote, free money.�

In order for the court justice department to move forward with the new grant application it needed a motion from the Town Board, which happened at the board meeting with unanimous agreement.