KINGSTON – Several elected officials in Ulster County are calling for the county family court to be kept in Kingston.
The state wants it to move to more sufficient facilities and the county administration has considered the Business Resource Center on Ulster Avenue in the Town of Ulster.
But, county legislators Like David Donald Donaldson said it should be retained in the city since Kingston in the county seat.
“That actually goes back to ancient Rome where they always tried to consolidate all of the governmental entities in one area and it is particularly important for the courts,” he said. “If you take a look at Uptown, that’s where most of the attorneys are and you can go in there and you can take a bus or car and are able to walk to your attorney’s office and walk over to your court, walk over and take care of your business at motor vehicle. It actually creates a much friendlier type of government.”
Donaldson noted moving it out of the city would require a county-wide voter referendum.
Fellow legislator John Parete, another Democrat, said the Kingston School District’s Cione Building is for sale and could be considered as an alternative.
Donaldson also said other options are the Kingston Plaza and the site of the former parking garage. He said the Kingston City Court, which the state would also like to see relocated, could move into the same location and family court and that would comply with the governor’s desires for government consolidations wherever possible.
Former Mayor James Sottile said Uptown Kingston “is definitely where it belongs.”
Kingston Alderman Brad Will said it would be “unjustly served by a proposed, highly disruptive relocation of the county family court out of the heart of Kingston.”
