The Grays Harbor County Courthouse celebrated the opening of its third Superior Court courtroom Monday.
“Our first case was an adoption this morning,” Judge Stephen Brown, who moved into the courtroom, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “That’s always a good way to start out.”
All three county commissioners, three Superior Court judges, Miss Grays Harbor and other regional dignitaries attended the ceremony in the second-floor courtroom.
During construction, extra care went into the woodwork.
“The courtroom was designed to be historically correct and have the same feel as the larger Superior Courtrooms on the third floor,” Mark Cox, director of utilities and facilities, said in an email. “Special attention was taken to match the existing oak casework and the molding found in the original courtrooms.”
The total cost of the project was more than $700,000, Cox said. Some of the expense in the project was from the need to plumb that part of the building, which was built in 1910-11.
The new courtroom project was paid for by a combination of public safety sales tax and a $400,000 grant from the state. Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, who attended the ceremony, made the grant request.
The courtroom is meant to be “a miniature replica of the courtrooms upstairs,” Judge David Edwards said during the ribbon-cutting. He also mentioned the help received from the state.
“We were struggling partway through the project trying to figure out how to come up with the money to finish this off,” Edwards said. “And Jim (Walsh) worked his magic and secured a significant contribution from the state for this project.”
A trio of Superior Court judges that included Edwards and now retired Gordon Godfrey and Mark McClauley had previously sued the county because there were only two courtrooms, citing crowding and security issues. The case was eventually settled.
“This courtroom satisfies a lawsuit that was brought against the county by the judges to provide a third Superior courtroom,” Cox said.
No further work is planned for the Courthouse. Construction of the third courtroom began in January and finished last week.
