The Great Falls Civic Center has been renovating their courtroom space, bringing the city’s Municipal Court out of the basement and adding a second courtroom to improve efficiency.
Sylvia Tarman, Project Manager for the City of Great Falls, explains, “This will allow us to run two courtrooms concurrently to be able to chew through our backlog and also help support the second judge that we hired last year, so now we have a courtroom for each judge.”
WATCH:
Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the Civic Center has been working on renovating what used to be a large ballroom space, the Missouri Room, into two new courtrooms, jury rooms, and offices to support additional court staff.
As the population of Great Falls steadily increases, so does the number of court cases.
Tarman says, “As you see a population increase, you're going to see an increase in your court cases and with increased police force and public safety type things, you're also going to see an increase in your court cases. It’s kind of a continuum from one end to the other.”
The judges and court staff are looking forward to the functionality of the new space and how it will help them better serve the public.
Morgan Medvec, the Court Supervisor for Great Falls Municipal Court, told MTN, “The Municipal Court currently has two sitting Judges, and we have to coordinate their hearing and trial dates with one courtroom, so having a courtroom for each Judge will be helpful. Additionally, the Court often has difficulty keeping open Court sessions, hearings, and trials beginning on time due to the inability to hold them in more than one courtroom, so this will help that as well.”
The new space will also provide a better experience for visitors as opposed to the windowless basement, featuring an updated audio/visual system, high ceilings, and a new waiting area. The space will also allow for additional security measures.
The project is expected to be completed this May, and once the court moves out of the basement, that area will be renovated into a multi-functional meeting space.
