Conditions at the Pulaski County Courthouse have led to some challenges for Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn. A complaint about the courthouse has recently been filed with the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Among other items, it calls for the county to repair a piece of falling ceiling in the courtroom.
Judge Shurn told the county commissioners Monday he’s working with Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston on a solution. “The remedy in the courtroom was, basically, to block off the whole courtroom with sheriff’s tape,” Shurn explained. “Well, I’ve got a major jury trial coming up one month from today. So I’m proposing to knock down the loose paint and reopen the courtroom for the jury trial, keep the rest of it on the north wall because, realistically, he said he’s got that in his budget for next year.” Johnston previously said that fixing the courtroom ceiling will have to wait until repairs to the exterior of the courthouse are complete.
On top of that, the courthouse elevator is currently out of service. Judge Shurn said that’s made it difficult to conduct court hearings for people who can’t make it up the stairs. “I’ve been trying to take a portable tape recorder down to the basement, sit in the hall,” he said. “And the last one we did, she said she’s going to turn us in to Joe Donnelly for doing that because it just was not a proper place for that. It was hot, miserable. She got up in the middle of the hearing and left. So it’s sort of a mess.”
As an alternative, Judge Shurn said he plans to hold hearings in the Pulaski County Justice Center conference room, when an ADA-compliant space is needed. To do that, the current court reporting equipment will be moved there from the courtroom. Meanwhile, the courtroom will get a new system that the county’s had for a few months but hasn’t installed yet.
Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the commissioners Monday that the courthouse elevator is still one or two weeks away from being fixed. However, the elevator is scheduled to be taken back out of service this November for a total replacement, which will leave the courthouse without an elevator once again, until late next spring.
