Magistrate court renovations still under way

Irvan Tso of Clifton Electric cuts a piece of metal while working at the Gallup Municipal Court House on Tuesday afternoon. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — There is a lot of hustle and bustle around the old magistrate court, and traffic has become even more congested since the county and the state started renovating the building.

The magistrate clerk’s office, once located in cramped quarters between the various courtrooms in the building, is now located in even more cramped quarters in two modular units leased by the county so the clerk’s office can continue functioning while renovations continue.

While the building belongs to McKinley County, it has been leased for more than a decade to the Administrative Offices of the Court, the state agency that oversees the operation of various magistrate courts in New Mexico. As it is throughout the state, the AOC would rather spend its money leasing buildings than seeking the millions of dollars necessary to build facilities of their own.

For the past two years, the AOC has been examining Gallup and trying to determine a way to improve conditions as the workload increased. Plans were to add a fourth courtroom and greatly expand space for the clerk’s office.

But the problem was funding.

The AOC, with the support of the county, tried to get a legislative grant last year to enable the county to construct a new building, and the AOC would increase its annual lease payments to the county to pay for extra maintenance and upkeep. But the state Legislature refused to go along with this and allocated only $100,000.

As a result, county spokesman Doug Decker said, the decision was made to renovate the existing building in phases and hopefully get enough funds over the next few years to accomplish the same goals.

Phase one renovation, which is currently under way, will cost about $100,000, and the county plans to use that $100,000 appropriation to help pay for it.

The other funds, said Decker, will be coming from increased lease payments the AOC has been paying the county for the past year. The payments over and above the current lease have been put aside in the bank so that AOC would have enough funds to pay for this renovation.

The front of the building is now fenced in, and people needing to appear in court have to go through a side entrance after checking in next door in the temporary clerk’s office.

Officials there said Tuesday that while there’s only room in the modular for between 10 and 12 customers at any one time, it hasn’t caused any major hang-ups in the time it takes to address people’s concerns.

Decker said plans are to expand the current clerk’s office further to the front, providing it with more space.

Phase 2, which is expected to cost $5 million and is not expected to occur until funding is available, will add a fourth courtroom and also provide security for the building.

This has also been a major concern for the county and the AOC since the current facility has no security at all and people are not scanned for weapons before going into the courtroom.

Phase 2 also includes adding a holding cell, which Decker said is also sorely needed.

Currently, prisoners from the county jail next door are walked over to the building and are taken to the courtroom, where they sit throughout the day waiting for their case to be called.

This has come under criticism from parents of young girls who have had to testify at preliminary hearings in the magistrate court about being sexually assaulted or molested, and several complaints have been made that allowing prisoners to remain in the courtroom makes situations even more difficult for those having to testify in these kinds of cases.

Decker said the hope is the renovation will be completed soon and the clerks will be able to go back into their larger quarters in the building soon.

“We have to lease the modulars for a minimum of six months, but we’re hoping to have the renovation done in four months,” Decker said.