Courthouse Moves on Chamber

The Courthouse renovation project is slowly sprawling over Jasper.In the past month, the project has forced roads to close and forged decisions for traffic to be re-routed. Since the project began several months ago, the county moved some Judicial Offices and court proceedings to the old post office building off of West Church Street, known now as the West Annex. In the wake of a new resolution signed by Commissioner Robert Jones, the project may now spread as far as the Pickens County Chamber of Commerce on Stegall Drive.

Multi-faceted, the renovation project includes the removal and refurbishing of the marble on the front of the building and an addition to the back of the building. In January, Commissioner Jones signed contracts for the marble work, demolition work and asbestos removal in the back of the building. Following the move, earlier this month the Jasper City Council approved to close Depot and Court Streets, partly to secure a staging area during construction. The council’s decision came among concerns of construction impeding businesses in and around the courthouse. Now, questions arise whether the temporary facilities in the West Annex are sufficient.

At February’s Commissioner’s Meeting, Sole Commissioner Robert Jones adopted a resolution to use the Chamber of Commerce for court proceedings. Due to the construction in and around the courthouse, the resolution states,

“the best interest of the public would be served by the furnishing of an additional facility for the holding of any session or sitting of any Superior, Magistrate, or Probate court proceeding…until further notice.”

Currently, such proceedings are conducted and handled at the West Annex. Jones said that the room in the chamber would serve in case of overflow with proceedings such as jury selections. County Attorney Phillip Landrum clarified, though, that

“the resolution isn’t just limited to jury selection, but as a practical matter we needed that larger room they have (at the chamber).”

Although the commissioner said the county has not had any instances when overflow has been an issue, Jones noted a recent situation that raised a red flag.

“We did have a case come up,”

he said,

“where they were debating whether calling in 200 jurors.”

The resolution ensures the county will have enough room for overflow scenarios, but does not commandeer the chamber facility on a full-time basis. Jones said he wanted to be sure the county had an enough room if such a case should arise.

The chamber, however, does not seem to see this as an imposition. In a statement from Chamber of Commerce Director of Communications and Community Affairs Karla Haege, the chamber asserted,

“We are glad to provide our Community Room to assist with additional space for jury trial periods. We will work closely with those Government agencies to efficiently provide this additional space if there be a need in the future.”

According to Project Manager Thurman Slone, the marble refurbishing is approximately 50 percent complete and the demolition in the rear of the building, about 20 percent complete. Some estimates gauge the project