Trends Spring 2017 | Página 2

& SERVING G rowing caseloads in Jackson County, Wisconsin, have caused a judicial conundrum for years. The County had more work than its lone judge could handle but no space to house a sorely needed second judge. “We were having visiting judges coming in. Sometimes we had as many as three, and we were bouncing them around, putting them in the County Board Room, conference 2│ TRENDS PROTECTING Courthouse addition delivers desperately needed courtroom while solving security issues By Jennifer Schmidt rooms – wherever we could put them,” explained Mike Kutcher, Jackson County’s maintenance supervisor. – in its existing facility or elsewhere on its grounds – to build one. But despite repeatedly ranking first in a workload study determining which counties were in greatest judicial need, one critical step needed to take place first: the County needed to have a space for the second judge. Weighing the options It didn’t. And it didn’t have the space Or did it? County officials contacted Ayres Associates, who’d done previous remodeling projects in the building through the years, to complete a concept design study and determine whether an addition to the courthouse was feasible. The