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A faltering economy and a still uncorrected discrepancy in the town’s capital budget has not stopped the wheels of justice from moving—at least to Jackson Avenue in Hampton Bays.
The Southampton Town Justice Court, currently in the basement in Town Hall, will be moved to Hampton Bays in April, as planned, according to Town Services Management Administrator Richard Blowes.
During the Town Board’s work session Friday, at which it met with the General Services Department that Mr. Blowes manages, members voted to issue a $2 million bond from the $3 million in funding that was approved by the board in 2008. The town already has spent $1 million on the relocation project, Mr. Blowes said.
Town Councilman Chris Nuzzi complained that the board had no choice but to approve the bond issue because the 19 modular units for the new facility have already been purchased and delivered to the site.
Mr. Nuzzi contends that the Jackson Avenue plans have evolved into something much larger and more expensive than what the Town Board first authorized.
Initial plans for the Jackson Avenue site, on town-owned property near Red Creek Park, were for eight modular units to accommodate the town’s tax assessor and tax receiver. However, once the decision was made to keep those offices at Town Hall and relocate the court to Jackson Avenue instead, Mr. Blowes and the General Services Department upped the order for modular units from eight to 19.
“It’s unacceptable for administrators to make these funding determinations without Town Board approval,” Mr. Nuzzi said. “We go in with eyes wide open and approve a plan only to find out two years later that those plans have grown because administrators are running wild making change orders mid-stream.”
Mr. Nuzzi said he understood the need to address the overcrowded conditions at the court’s current location, which has been a concern for years—so has the transport of prisoners so close to the Southampton elementary school.
“What we had discussed were plans to renovate the court at Town Hall and to include video arraignments to address the concerns of the prisoners near the school,” Mr. Nuzzi said. “But then they shifted gears and we’re now being asked to approve funding for something that has already been purchased. Enough is enough. Whether it’s $1,000 or $1 million, it’s taxpayer dollars.”
The pre-fabricated units were purchased from a Pennsylvania manufacturer, Markline, and will be arranged to form an H-shaped complex that will house the new court. Town justice chambers, attorney conference rooms, district attorney offices and a reception area for court clients are some of the planned features of the Jackson Avenue facility. Prisoners being transported to the new court will be held in a gated area and brought in through a separate entrance.
Back in July, Mr. Blowes estimated the court would have to be at Jackson Avenue in the modular units for five years until the town staked out a permanent court location and built a new courthouse. But Mr. Nuzzi said the 19 pre-fab trailers were “more than adequate” to house the court into the foreseeable future.
Once a new Southampton Justice Court is built, plans were to construct a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art municipal complex at the site to include a renovated police station, the Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Highway departments. In April, Town Engineer George Mootoo estimated the price tag on that megaplex to be near $100 million.
“Tell me why we need to spend $100 million on property that we already own?” Mr. Nuzzi said. “So long as I’m here, there is no chance that I will ever approve such a project.”
Brian Bossetta on Feb 18, 2009