Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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July 16, 2008

Tazewell courthouse in 3-phase renovation

By CHARLES OWENS

TAZEWELL, Va. — Construction is expected to begin within the next couple of weeks on an additional courtroom for Tazewell County as part of a three-phase courthouse renovation project.

A busy court docket is mandating the need for a second circuit court, County Attorney Eric Young said.

“We will be remodeling the courthouse, and adding one additional circuit court so we can have two courts to run at the same time,” Young said. “We are remodeling what we already have. We are going to move some walls, and move some agencies out of the building to make room.”

Young said Circuit Court Judge Pat Johnson from Buchanan County has agreed to hold court in Tazewell County two or three days a week to help with the heavy court docket.

“I think he is going to be coming up here to help us out, and we are greatly appreciative of that,” Young said. “The faster we can turn cases over on the criminal side of the docket, the more quickly civil litigants can be heard. Because that allows the court to spend more time on civil cases. And in theory it should help with our regional jail population.”

Young said the quicker cases are adjudicated, the quicker those who are found innocent will be released from the regional jail system.

Young said the project is being overseen by the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority.

“We’ve got the design, and we’ve gotten some quotes, and our engineers are analyzing the quotes,” Young said. “We are hoping to begin within the next couple of weeks. Part of the project that was quoted included working after court hours. So we hope to maintain that as much as possible.”

Young said the three phase plan also includes relocating the Commonwealth Attorney’s office to a new location on Main Street, and relocating the Commissioner of Revenue’s office to another location in the courthouse.

Young said the IDA authorized a contract at their last meeting not to exceed $200,000 for the project.

“The initial phase is to get the additional courtroom functioning,” Young said. “Phases after that would be relocating other departments within the courthouse.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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