Avoyelles Police Jury to endorse Bennett plan for justice center

Justice in Avoyelles Parish may be meted out in “Marksura” instead of the 90-year-old courthouse under a proposal to build a new courtroom facility between Marksville and Mansura, police jurors were told at their Feb. 8 agenda-setting meeting.

12th Judicial District Judge Billy Bennett presented a request for the Police Jury’s “blessing and support” of the effort to create a “Courtroom Facility District.” He emphasized that he is talking about building “courtrooms, not a courthouse.”

After the presentation and some discussion on its need and merits, jurors said they would adopt a resolution of support at the Thursday (Feb. 15) regular meeting.

Bennett said the project would be “at no cost to the Police Jury for construction or maintenance.”

The Courtroom Facility District can be created by an act of the Legislature, Bennett said. It would be run by the judges, not the Police Jury.

The Pierite Group, a Marksville consulting company, has offered to work with the judges in the planning phase of the effort and to try to secure grants to aid the project.

WOULD SELECT SITE

Bennett said the Courtroom Facilities District would be responsible for selecting a suitable site for the center, determining a construction cost estimate, obtaining architect’s drawings and, eventually, presenting a tax proposal to voters to pay to construct, operate and maintain the justice center. In addition to housing spacious courtrooms, the new building would also have judges’ offices, jurors’ rooms, an appropriate number of restrooms, attorney-client meeting rooms and the administrative offices for the court system.

Security issues -- such as segregating inmates from the general public -- would be built into the design and not be an afterthought, which is the case in the current courtroom environment.

Attorney Mike Kelly, who recently retired as an assistant district attorney, is spearheading the campaign for the new courtrooms building and also addressed the jurors last Thursday.

Although Bennett stressed his hope to work with the Police Jury and to relieve it of the financial burden of the courtrooms and court system through the proposed Facility District, he also included a stick with the carrot. In fact, he led with the stick, then offered a bunch of carrots, and then reminded jurors about the stick and then closed by reminding them that his request would not cost the parish anything.

“SHALL PROVIDE ... A SUITABLE BUILDING"

Bennett said state law says “each parish SHALL provide and bear the expense of a suitable building and requisite furniture for the district courts and such offices, furniture and equipment as may be needed.” The emphasis of “shall” was both verbal and in his written remarks on the issue.

“Our higher courts have ruled that the police jury has jurisdiction and control over and has actual possession and administration of the courthouse and property and that this administration and control must be exercised in the interest of and for the service and benefit of the public in compliance with the obligation to provide and maintain a courthouse for the parish,” Bennett said.

A key element in the statute, he noted, is the part that says the jury “shall provide ... a suitable building.”

He then stated that the current courthouse is not “suitable” for the purpose of holding court.

“As you are all aware, our courthouse was built in 1927. It was built FOR 1927,” Bennett said. “Here we are in 2018, 91 years later, and things have changed. The 1927 courthouse included the following: one large courtroom; offices for one judge and staff; offices for the District Attorney and staff; offices for the sheriff and staff -- including the jail; offices for the clerk of court, staff and records; offices for the Assessor, staff and records; offices for the Registrar of Voters and staff; office for the Police Jury and staff; and possibly others.”

Bennett said the Sheriff’s Office and jail have moved to Tunica Drive and the District Attorney’s Office moved out of the courthouse in the 1970s.

He said the Clerk of Court’s office “is cramped and crowded and much too small for today’s world.” The same is true for the Assessor’s Office, he added.

“Also, parking for our citizens is totally inadequate,” Bennett added.

The parish now has two judges requiring staff and office space. There has been some discussion on possibly adding a third judge in the near future.

OTHER SHORTCOMINGS

Other shortcomings of the current courtrooms include only one public restroom that “must be shared by attorneys, their clients, witnesses, jurors, spectators and others,” Bennett said. “Certainly not ‘suitable’ as defined by the law.”

The judge also cited security concerns with the current environment. For example, judges must walk through the hall “where litigants, witnesses and others are located. Very often, this results in dangerous scenarios.”

Bennett said trial jurors should have a room where they can go to be kept separate from parties to a case, witnesses, lawyers, inmates, etc.

“Here they must mingle together during breaks in court proceedings, again often creating a dangerous and certainly uncomfortable scenario.”

Attorneys have no private area where they can discuss matters with their client. They must whisper in the hall as witnesses, other attorneys and others pass by.

The court staff has inadequate work areas that are “semi-private and in many ways unprofessional,” Bennett said.

The 90-year-old courthouse also has structural problems, he continued. Those include cracking walls, hanging wires, door knobs constantly requiring repair or replacement and painting is needed in many areas.

He said the parish has spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on the 3rd Floor since he took office in December 1996. The large courtroom was divided into two courtrooms in early 1997.

“NOT SUITABLE”

In summing up his points, Bennett said the courthouse “definitely is not ‘suitable.’ Therefore, it is our opinion that Louisiana law is not being complied with and something must be done.”

Bennett made it clear that he could order the Police Jury to make the necessary improvements, whether it can afford it or not, “but we are trying to avoid that.”

He said he has always tried to work with the Police Jury on financial concerns.

Bennett said the Facility District wants the jury's “support and blessing to continue efforts to seek funding to build new courtrooms. It is our hope, plan and desire to receive this from you together with permission to consider locating these new courtrooms separate from the remainder of courthouse offices, at a location that is hopefully more accessible and convenient to our citizens.”

He said moving the courts is “necessary for the safety and comfort of the people of Avoyelles Parish who access the court system. The courthouse will still be open and will still house many, many offices.

Kelly said that once the planning phase of the project is finished, the district will have to ask -- which could be in about two years -- the voters to approve a tax to pay for a bond issue to construct the center and to provide funds to operate and maintain the court system in the new facility.

The proposal would take the Police Jury “completely out of the courtroom business,” Bennett said.

Kelly said grants would help, especially in the planning stage to pay for costs for an architect. It is not realistic to expect grants to be available to pay for the construction and annual operating costs of the court system.

That tax would likely be a 1/4-cent sales tax, which Kelly said seems to be more popular than a property tax.

Bennett added that making the proposal a reality “won’t cost the public much -- and it has to happen.”