Local leaders converged at the Pitt County Courthouse on Tuesday to unveil two new courtrooms that a judge said will reduce travel time for staff and provide better security for magistrates.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in a new district courtroom on the courthouse’s first floor. Judges, attorneys, courthouse staff and elected officials were on hand to celebrate the occasion.
A new small claims and magistrate courtroom was also unveiled in the space that once housed the Pitt County Register of Deeds, which relocated to a building on First Street in 2022.
The project’s total cost was $1.6 million allocated from American Rescue Plan Act funds — $1.2 million of that accounted for construction costs through contractor Hudson Brothers Construction Company. The architect for the project was JKF Architecture. Both companies are based in Greenville.
Tom Moye, the project manager for the contractor, said that the courtrooms finished ahead of their September deadline and that crews would work before and after hours to prevent noise or other distractions to regular operations at the courthouse.
Pitt County Chief District Court Judge G. Galen Braddy said Tuesday that in 2018 the North Carolina legislature granted Pitt County a sixth district court judgeship in order to account for the number of cases being overseen. That sixth seat is now occupied by Judge Mario Perez.
“For the longest time we had six district court judges and five courtrooms which forced us to beg, plea, lobby (Chief Pitt County Superior Court) Judge (Marvin) Blount to see if he had a spare courtroom,” Braddy said. “Farmville’s Town Hall has been used for years and even before that we used Ayden’s court.”
Braddy said that court staff pointed out to him that the void left by the Register of Deeds opened the opportunity for the additional courtroom. American Rescue Plan Act funding, which was allocated to counties and municipalities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, also came at an opportune time according to Braddy, calling the courtrooms the “only silver lining” to come from the pandemic.
Braddy said that the new space will prevent courtroom coordinators, clerks and other staff from having to travel long distances between settings. Court calendars show that court sessions will still be held in Farmville for the foreseeable future.
“We have another courtroom now and we may not need to drive as far as we used to in the past,” Braddy said.
Magistrates have typically held court from their office on Washington Street. Chief Pitt County Magistrate Cheryl Jordan said that she has served for 35 years has spent at least 20 of those yearning to work out of the courthouse.
The new space will provide a better atmosphere she said and that she will also feel safer with armed deputies present in her workplace.
“We’ve been looking to get into the courthouse for a long time,” Jordan said. “Citizens will be a lot more secure since you come in through security to get to the courtroom.”
The new district courtroom 6 can accommodate 70 people and the new small claims/magistrate court occupancy is 53.
Braddy said that the new courtrooms are not the only change that visitors can expect to see at the courthouse. The state’s eCourts system, a statewide electronic filing system, is expected to launch in Pitt County in April. Kiosks will be installed at that time.
Braddy said it was ideal to have more space to conduct court ahead of the system’s installation, as he expects it to at least temporarily slow operations.
“You’re talking about changes, I’m thankful we got this in place so now we can use this to try to start that,” Braddy said. “We’re going to slow down for a good while while we’re trying to adopt and change the way we do court. It’s going to change the way we do things that’s been done for years, for decades, but it’s a leap into the future and the chief justice said that’s what we’re doing.”
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