CONWAY -- The new Faulkner County Justice Building, a project the county began envisioning almost seven years ago, was dedicated Thursday with accolades for its modern security system and formal but not extravagant decor.
The new, four-story building on the outskirts of downtown Conway sits on South German Lane, near one of the county's two jails and overlooking the city's baseball park.
Addressing local and county civic leaders, Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Hannah said he had just toured the courthouse.
"All I can say is, 'Wow!'" Hannah said.
He said he hopes that the building will become a "model" for other counties and said such courthouses are "the closest and most visible tool of our democracy."
Faulkner County will continue to use the first floor of its historic courthouse on Locust Street for the clerk's office. The circuit clerk's office will remain at another site down the street from that courthouse but will have someone in the Justice Building to represent that office, Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson said.
Unlike the old courthouse, the Justice Building has metal detectors and security guards stationed inside the front door, long before people reach any of the courtrooms.
Criminal defendants being taken to a courtroom from one of the county's two jails "are no longer in the vicinity of the public until they get in the courtroom," thanks to secure elevators, Dodson said.
Other security measures also have been installed, but he said he wasn't free to disclose those.
During the dedication ceremony, Dodson thanked numerous leaders -- including former County Judge Preston Scroggin, who left office in February 2013, and former Justice of the Peace Jimmy Bryant, who proposed a millage increase in 2007 to help finance what judges and others already viewed as a need for a safer and more modern courthouse.
The Quorum Court approved a 0.9 mill increase in property taxes -- slightly less than what Bryant had originally suggested -- to finance repairs to the aging courthouse.
The county instead ended up saving revenue from that millage increase with a new facility in mind. When the savings reached $5 million, the county began construction, Dodson said.
"That is a responsible use of taxpayer money and [good] planning, a conservative approach," Dodson said. "I can't take credit for this." The credit goes to the previous Quorum Court and administration, he said.
The Justice Building itself, at roughly 73,000 square feet, cost about $10.3 million, with the remainder of the tab to be paid over the next five years. The parking area and grounds cost an additional $1.4 million, Dodson said.
The building "is not extravagant," Dodson said. "But it's actually nice enough and formal enough that when people are there, they know they're in the presence of state law."
The old courthouse, built in 1936, had gotten into such bad shape that much of it was no longer used. As a result, two courtrooms and judges' offices were set up in what used to be a former church. The prosecuting attorney's office had to move out, as well.
The new Justice Building has six courtrooms -- one for each of the 20th Judicial Circuit's divisions and one that can be used when another courtroom is packed. The extra one also will be there should the county continue to grow and need another division judge in the future.
Referring to the need for the new facility, Hannah said the 20th Judicial Circuit, which includes Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties, has "one of the heaviest caseloads in our state."
State Desk on 10/03/2014