About the Author
Mike Kanin is the Publisher of the Austin Monitor. As such, he doesn't report on much--aside from the workings of the Monitor--any more. In his previous life as a freelance journalist, Kanin has written for the Washington City Paper, the Washington Post's Express, the Boston Herald, Boston's Weekly Dig, the Austin Chronicle, and the Texas Observer.
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County auditor questions proposed changes to courtrooms
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 by Michael Kanin
The
The morning started slowly, as Stephen Coulston of Broaddus and Associates (the contractors commissioned by the court to conduct the study), offered a quick review of his firm’s findings. Though there were a few tweaks to the report, Coulston noted that what the commissioners were seeing on their television screens was “essentially a review of a lot of information that (they had) seen before.” He closed his opening comments with a request for final approval of the phase one findings.
But as the discussion moved forward, it became clear that not all parties were completely ready to close the door on the assessment portion of the project. Travis County Auditor Susan Spataro seemed to surprise the room when she suggested that the court accept, but not approve, the sections pertaining to the Travis County Civil Court in Coulston’s report.
“The designs that have been suggested in terms of court rooms (are) really very different from what we do now,” she said. Spataro reminded the commissioners that the proposed new courtrooms would, in a radical departure, find
She added that it would be a good idea to have
Spataro punctuated her argument by noting that the civil courts handle family law and that it is important to take those sensitive hearings into account. “Judges are very concerned — and they don’t have this now at all — that they have areas where they can work with children, and deal with them, and (deal with) those horrible situations as (best) they can,” she said.
She then asked for the time to arrange site visits at existing facilities that had been designed by Ricci Greene Associates — a courts planning firm that is also working on the project — and otherwise “allow them to do just a little bit more actual work on things that will be very different from the other operations here … and make sure that (the) concept is right.”
Consultant Christian Smith called Spataro’s input “helpful” and assured the Court that “the leadership with the judiciary has been working in some considerable detail with Ricci Greene.” He added that whether the report was “accepted or approved is less critical than recognizing that this is a work in process, that we’re not designing yet.”
After some back and forth about the timing of the public hearings that will be associated with phase two of the plan, the court further established the need for more review by the entire
After the hearing, Spataro summed up her position. “They are looking at changing (something) that has been a tradition with judges for 150 years,“ she said, in reference to the switch from single-judge-dedicated courtrooms. “My thought is before you sign up for that, you really ought to go to a place that’s done that … and make sure that it does work the way you (thought it would).”
Her concern, she added, was that the court would “adopt something and … just (keep) moving on,” unable to change course where necessary. But, assured by both the court and city officials that changes could be made, and given two months for the judiciary to comment, Spataro said she was satisfied with the outcome of the hearing.
For his part, Smith called Spataro’s comments “unexpected” and noted that though members of the
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