After months of discussion and fears over safety in Southold Town justice court, plans are taking shape for a facelift to the existing facility.
The town board this week reviewed a concept plan for the facility; town engineers Michael Collins and Jamie Richter discussed a grant to help analyze the needs of the entire building, said Councilman Jim Dinizio.
According to Southold Town Councilwoman Jill Doherty, the plans would include replacing the two trailers out back that have been standing for over 25 years. Those would be demolished and replaced with five modular units, with a separate entrance for judges and a jury room.
Also proposed would be a shed roof that would be installed over the side of the Town Hall. One of the windows on the side of the Town Hall meeting room would be removed and replaced with door, so that those entering for justice court proceedings would have a separate entrance with the metal detector. Bathrooms would eventually be installed there, too.
The main doors to the Town Hall meeting room would be closed on the days justice court is in session, so those in the lobby who are paying tax bills or taking care of other town business would not intermingle with those heading to justice court, Doherty said.
Dinizio said the five modular units would be just enough space to run operations effectively.
The goal, Doherty said, is safety.
Richter and Collins said the grant would be garnered through a NYPA energy efficiency program; an audit of the town buildings and facilities would commence. Funds could be used to help with the court revamp, with funds repaid at .5 percent interest, Richter said. That way, Doherty said, the town would not have to bond for the project. The work could “piggyback” off the energy efficiency project, the engineers agreed.
Dinizio said the aim was to “isolate court proceedings” from the rest of Town Hall.
The proposed five units would be 12′ by 42′; the board also discussed taking a look at the Town Hall basement, which sports a great deal of underutilized space that might be used for storage.
Dinizio reminded that the town’s lease at the Capitol One bank annex is up in five years and a decision needed to be made about justice court facilities.
Justice Louisa Evans asked if any parking would be lost due to the expansion of justice court facilities.
Dinizio said only about six spaces would be lost and there was plenty of space available to modify the back parking lot.
Although other solutions were initially considered, such as a new justice court building, or utilizing the Peconic Community Center, Doherty said a new facility would prove costly, at about $3 million; the community center has a number of other uses, she added.
If the project gets a green light, Doherty said the improvements will take place in phases, with the five units coming first and the shed roof and bathrooms to follow.
Employees working in the current trailers have had “horrible conditions,” Doherty said. “Hopefully within the next year we can have a new home for them.”
Last year, the board said they were taking “short term” steps to address what some consider potentially deadly conditions in the justice court.
In October, just days after sending a letter pleading with the town board to focus safety in Southold Town justice court, court officer Cappabianca announced his resignation.
Southold Town Justice William Price spoke out to SoutholdLOCAL about the lack of security in the town’s justice court.
“Safety is a serious issue, especially for people in the gallery,” he said. “The severity of the issue was brought to the forefront some years ago when a questionnaire was given to all employees within Town Hall as to what dangers they perceived — and they perceived that the justice court on Fridays was extremely dangerous.”
Eventually, court dates were split so that traffic violation cases were seen by town justices on Mondays, with criminal cases slated for Fridays.
“That has helped,” Price said. “Before that, I would have a person with an expired inspection sticker sitting next to a person charged with some form of domestic violence. This separated the less serious from the more serious offenses.”
When asked if he has concerns for his own well-being, Price said, “Of course I worry about my own safety, and I worry about the safety of other people on the bench with me. I worry primarily about the people out in the gallery, because they’re sitting there completely unprotected. Safety is a major issue.”
After Cappabianca cried out about justice court conditions he deemed unsafe and possibly deadly, the town board headed to Southampton’s justice court in Hampton Bays to seek ideas and solutions.
Cappabianca has said he believed the lack of security could prove life-threatening at Southold Town justice court, a facility that sees a high volume of cases each year.
During his time at Southold Town justice court, Cappabianca said he took “approximately six to eight knives” from defendants standing directly before the judge and right next to the assistant district attorney.
Defendants, Cappabianca said, “are from all walks of life” and some, even gang members.
There are no security checks of bags, he added, and no metal detector at Town Hall, where justice court is held.
Over the past three years, Cappabianca said he experienced “two to three incidents with defendants that could have easily gone from verbal to physical.” He added, “I believe the town is being short-sighted regarding the courtroom security. One unfortunate incident in the courtroom could result in physical bodily harm or, in the worse case scenario, death to one or more individuals” such as innocent bystanders or court personnel.
Since then, a metal detector has been installed to help ease concerns.
Other issues include no other usable location other than within the meeting room to pay fines; in most courts, fines are paid at a separate window, Price said said.
The justice court trailer is used for storage, too, Price said, with “cluttered” files because there is no room for file cabinets. “We do not have anywhere the sufficient storage we need for our files,” he said.
