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Spanish Fork's one-room district court, which fits snugly on the second floor of the city office building, is getting ready to close its doors forever.
Starting Sept. 8, Spanish Fork's 4th District Court will operate out of its own building, which has been under construction for 15 months. City officials are planning a ribbon cutting ceremony in late August.
Alyn Lunceford, the facilities manager for Utah State Courts, said the exterior of the building is mostly finished. Most of the work that is left to be done is on landscaping and the building's interior.
"We're getting really close to wrapped up. The project's coming together rather delightfully," Lunceford said.
After operating out of a single room in the city offices since 1985, Spanish Fork's district court has needed room to grow for years. The courtroom is small, and incarcerated defendants, some of whom are dangerous, must be led through the general seating area.
The new courthouse will meet modern security standards, with a holding facility for inmates, according to Nancy Volmer, a spokesman for the state Administrative Office of the Courts. It will also have a juvenile court, and extra space that can be converted into four additional courtrooms if the need arises, she said.
Currently, the Spanish Fork district court is open for just two days a week and only handles misdemeanor cases and civil cases under $20,000. That will stay the same after the new courthouse opens, but the building will have the capacity to handle a much larger caseload, and eventually it will, according to Paul Vance, the trial court executive for the 4th District Court.
A committee of judges will make recommendations on how best to allocate resources in Utah County's district courts, including facilities in Provo, American Fork and Orem. Vance expects that the Spanish Fork courthouse will be a full-time facility that hears felony cases starting in January 2010.
Some of the cases that would normally be assigned to Provo's 4th District Court will likely be heard in Spanish Fork once those changes are made. Vance said a judge will be transferred to the new courthouse from somewhere else in the district.
"Most likely you'll see a full-time judge at Spanish Fork. Everybody agrees that we want to take advantage and fully use that facility," Vance said.
The new courthouse will also house the Spanish Fork Police Department, which has been based in a medical office that was converted into a police station 14 years ago. Spanish Fork police Chief Dee Rosenbaum could not be reached for comment, and city attorney Junior Baker refused to speak with the Daily Herald.
• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or
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