Courthouse funding bill advances

BANGOR – A bill seeking funding for a new Bangor courthouse cleared its first major funding hurdle Wednesday when the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee gave it a unanimous “ought to pass” designation.

“This was a major step forward in the process,” said Ed Kelleher, public information officer for the state’s court system and a former state representative from Bangor until 1984.

Kelleher said the bill, LD 1687, was expected to go before the Senate for enactment Wednesday night and to the House of Representatives shortly after. If both bodies approve the bill, it will go back to the appropriations panel, which will be asked to provide initial funding for project elements such as land acquisition and planning and design.

The state court system plans to move its operations from the corner of Hammond and Court streets to a spot overlooking Kenduskeag Stream. The new modern building would be secure for the public, court staff, jurors, lawyers, defendants and others, court officials have said.

If the Legislature approves funding this year, planning and constructing the new building is expected to take more than three years, State Court Administrator James “Ted” Glessner said during a recent meeting with Bangor officials.

LD 1687 seeks to authorize the Maine Government Facilities Authority to issue bonds totaling up to $37 million for the new courthouse, which will be sited on the corner of Exchange and Washington streets, a site known as B-13 now owned by the city of Bangor.

The new building would house Penobscot County Superior Court and 3rd District Court and likely associated offices.

Sen. Joseph Perry, D-Bangor, is the bill’s main sponsor. Perry called Wednesday’s unanimous vote “awesome. I think that really shows just how important the project is to the state. It had strong support from the Bangor delegation and the [Penobscot] county delegation, so it looks very promising.

“I think it will get through the House and Senate probably tonight, but then the real work begins,” Perry said.

Money is tight and the project needs about $400,000 in the coming fiscal year and almost that much in fiscal year 2007, he said.

“It’s competing against dozens and dozens of other bills, but I’m confident we’re going to be able to get it funded,” he said.

Penobscot County and city officials have been watching the project’s progress closely. On Wednesday, representatives from both levels of government said they were gratified to see some movement on the project, which has been in the works for several years.

“The commissioners were supportive of the plans that the court presented to the city of Bangor and the county” in mid-April, County Administrator Bill Collins said Wednesday. “The commissioners were comfortable that the courts had done the due diligence to identify B-13 as the best local site.”

City Manager Edward Barrett expressed similar sentiments.

“I think obviously that we’re pleased that the Appropriations Committee recommended that the legislation” fund the project, he said. “We’ve been working pretty intensively [with county and state officials] for, I’m guessing, three or four years at least.”

Though the City Council and the Penobscot County Commission originally wanted the new courthouse to be built at the current location, both bodies signed a resolve supporting the B-13 site after it became apparent that retrofitting a new court building on the existing campus would be cost-prohibitive.

The Penobscot County Bar Association is solidly behind the plan.