What was described all last week as the “worst case scenario” has come true.
Because the new Duval County Unified Court facility has failed fire-safety tests, the courts and clerk of the Fourth Judicial Circuit are moving back into the old Duval County Courthouse on East Bay Street.
City and court officials were inspecting the old building floor-by-floor Monday, devising a plan that will allow business to resume until the new $350 million courthouse is certified as safe for occupancy.
The new building was supposed to open May 29, but it has failed fire-safety tests. As of Monday, no reliable opening date was known.
“The way it’s being explained to us, this is the only option. We think there are other options, but this is the only one that seems to be being pushed,” Circuit Judge Lance Day said Monday.
“Based on that, we’re back in this building today to see if we can get it up and running so we can start conducting court next week,” he said.
He said the court believes the best option is to hold court in the new building, but with a fire watch to ensure safety. Day said all of the court’s information technology systems and furniture are in place. All the court needs is the go-ahead from the City.
“All we need is a fire watch and we could be up and running tomorrow, but we’re told that’s not an option,” Day said.
David DeCamp, director of communications for Mayor Alvin Brown, said Fire Chief Marty Senterfitt has stated that a fire watch does not meet the requirements of the fire code.
With the court entering its third week in suspension, Day said the priority is to resume business.
“We’ve got a lot of cases that are on hold while this process is going through. It’s a tense situation, but everybody is working together,” he said.
Court Administrator Joe Stelma said Monday night that he and his staff would do “whatever it takes” to return the courts to operation as soon as possible, with Monday as the target date.
Day said the City spent the weekend cleaning the old courthouse in preparation for the court’s return. He said it looks “very good,” but work remains to meet the Monday deadline.
“We have to get the computers hooked up and, at the very least, temporary furniture back in here. Then we’ve got to secure the building. All the security features that were in this building are no longer in the building. All that has to be put back in place,” Day said.
Stelma said it is his understanding that the City plans to rent furniture to use in the old building.
Day said there will be a considerable cost involved in returning to the old courthouse. The City is managing the move and the related costs.
“I can’t imagine that it’s going to be an inexpensive process,” he said.
DeCamp didn’t have an estimate of the cost involved in moving back to the old courthouse and then moving again to the new courthouse when it is determined to be safe. Turner Construction Co. is the contractor on the new structure.
“We believe that Turner Construction ultimately is responsible for the costs,” he said.
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