AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Leaders in a Georgia city say they’ll tear down a former jail and law enforcement complex after a judge ordered them to convert it to courtroom space.
Augusta commissioners voted 8-2 Tuesday to demolish the former complex, after earlier putting the teardown on hold to try to lease it for movie and television production.
A judge in Augusta issued an emergency order on Friday directing local leaders to renovate the complex for court hearings, citing Georgia’s judicial state of emergency because of COVID-19 as his authority.
Commissioners in the consolidated city-county told The Augusta Chronicle they were “blindsided” by Richmond County Superior Court Judge Carl C. Brown’s Friday order, and questioned whether Brown was overstepping his authority by ordering renovations that could cost millions.
Brown declined comment on the vote, calling it a pending matter.
The motion lets the public know the demolition - funded by more than $1 million in a sales tax referendum - is moving forward, Commissioner Brandon Garrett said.
“It also sends a message to the judge about his actions on Friday,” Garrett said.
The vote came after two hours in a closed-door meeting.
Brown demanded work be completed within 330 days, saying courts need more room to hear a backlog of more than 24,000 cases that’s growing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the state COVID-19 judicial emergency order for reopening the courts, circuits are encouraged to “locate additional space” and “provide more room,” particularly for jury trials, Brown’s order said.
Brown cited a 1990 state Supreme Court case where the high court ruled Superior Court judges could order a county to spend money to hire clerks. Five years later, DeKalb County won its challenge to a Superior Court judge’s demand for a courthouse fire sprinkler system.
The city-county is in the process of trading property for a nearby former school that could be used as a juvenile justice center. Brown demanded that it be renovated for court use as well.
The judge has pressed for years to convert the former law enforcement center and county jail into a juvenile justice center. The commission agreed to the center but not to place it at the former jail.
Brown’s order states the project will bring justice “to all citizens, including juveniles.”
“I’m just saying that I think that it’s an awful ambitious undertaking, and I think that it’s a possible judicial overreach,” Commissioner John Clarke said Monday. “Our coffers right now are stretched kind of thin “ for Brown ”to have a hissy fit and have y’all spend a bunch of money.”
Clarke said there are various ways Brown could address space shortages, including holding night court or using the commission chamber, which was built to serve as a court annex.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.