KINGSTON – The current Ulster County Family Court facilities in Kingston are some 21,000 square feet in size. The county needs to expand that to about 33,000 square feet as per the State Office of Court Administration.
The reason boils down to the addition of a third judge early this year and possible future changes in family court law.
The Ways and Means Committee of the County Legislature discussed options again Wednesday with Chairman Richard Gerentine reviewing the current court facilities and future needs.
“We did some renovations to our building right now, which is going
to be accommodating the third judge,” Gerentine said. “[The
state is] requesting a whole gamut of things, which is nice to request,
but very costly. They are requesting six courtrooms, judges’ quarters,
clerks’ quarters, everyone has their own bathrooms, waiting areas.”
The county is currently inventorying the property and buildings it owns in Kingston before it makes any firm decisions on how to proceed.
