[2/18/04]Owners of two buildings being considered for use as courtrooms for Warren County Circuit Court will meet with supervisors before a decision is reached, perhaps Thursday.

The two judges of the 9th Circuit Court District, which includes Warren County, have told the county governing board they need more space to conduct and schedule civil and criminal trials.

A committee of the Warren County Bar Association headed by Frank Campbell, a former district attorney who returned to private law practice, looked at several buildings with supervisors. The old Office Supply Co. building at 1529 Walnut St. and the old Dalrymple Ford Co. building at 1222 Clay St. were apparent finalists. The committee then made suggestions on how each structure could be converted and discussed the pros and cons of each.

At the suggestion of District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, the board agreed to have someone meet with the property owners by 11 a.m. Thursday to negotiate possible agreements. This would give the board a couple of hours to discuss the proposals before its meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday.

District 1 Supervisor David McDonald volunteered to be the negotiator. One of the proposals he’ll make is for a three-year lease with two one-year optional extensions.

“We need to evaluate what the county can afford to provide,” warned District 5 Supervisor Richard George.

He also warned the board that money for the additional courtroom is not in the county’s budget.

In previous crunches, the judges have used the federal courtroom in the U.S. Post Office building on Crawford Street, the auditorium of the supervisors’ building on Jackson Street and the Office Supply building for trials.

Warren County has never had more than one circuit courtroom, even though a second circuit judgeship was established about 25 years ago. New time standards have also been imposed by the state Supreme Court establishing how soon litigants can expect to get their cases heard.