CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
PREPARED BY: Leslie A. Little, Asst. City Manager/Community Development
APPROVED BY: City Manager
TITLE
REPORT REGARDING STATUS OF SOUTH COUNTY COURTHOUSE AND COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING
END
RECOMMENDATION(S)
RECOMMENDATION
Receive report, hold discussion, and direct staff as appropriate.
BODY
COUNCIL PRIORITIES, GOALS & STRATEGIES:
Ongoing Priorities
Enhancing public safety
Preserving and cultivating public trust
2016 Focus Areas
Planning Our Community
Developing Our Community
Enhancing Our Services
Participating in Regional Issues
REPORT NARRATIVE:
The South County Courthouse and County Office Building complex consists of two office buildings and a related parking lot. The smaller building is 17,006 square feet (sf) and occupied by county offices of the District Attorney, Public Defender, and Probation. The Building is occupied by 41 County staff. The second building is the Courthouse and is 73,336 sf. The Courthouse maintains business hours from 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, with criminal courts operating in two of the six courtrooms. Regular traffic, civil and small claims units were closed in October of 2014. Family Units were closed in January of 2016. Traffic court is held once per month.
An article in the Mercury News on July 24, 2016, entitled "$60 Million South County Courthouse Now a Virtual Ghost Town," states that "under a new funding formula, the court receives most of their financial support from the state Judicial Council based on the number of cases filed -- including in small measure, traffic tickets. Case filings as a whole have been declining statewide, including in South County."
The article further stated that "The council came up with the new formula to divert resources to needier areas, such as San Bernardino County. Santa Clara County, which had been funded based on the historically robust financial support it once received from the county, became a so-called don...
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