Construction of district judges Cranberry office to begin soon

Published: Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, 7:09p.m. Updated 2 hours ago

Depending on weather, Butler County hopes to break ground on a new district judge office in Cranberry in April or May and complete the project by the end of December, according to county Chief Clerk Amy Wilson.

The building is expected to have nearly 3,900 square feet of space, including a courtroom and offices for District Judge David Kovach, one administrative assistant and three clerks.

An earlier estimate put the cost of the new facility at $700,000.

Wilson said Cranberry has offered to install the infrastructure, connecting the building to sewer and water service.

She said she didn't know exactly how much the township's contribution would save the county, but that Cranberry was expecting to do a similar project nearby for about $8,000. She added that the material cost for the infrastructure is about $25,000.

County commissioners last year bought about an acre of in the 9000 block of Marshall Road, previously owned by the Bartling family. The county expects to save money by owning the court building instead of renting space.

The county budgeted $72,000 in rent payments for 2014 to Lue-Regent Associates for the current courtroom and offices in a building on Keystone Drive.

County officials believe they can shave off nearly $10,000 of the annual cost because repaying money borrowed to construct the new office building will be less.

The county owns buildings used by District Judges Kevin O'Donnell in Butler Township, Peter Shaffer in Butler and Timothy Shaffer in Slippery Rock.

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Construction of district judges Cranberry office to begin soon