New district judge's office slated to open Monday
CRANBERRY TWP — District Judge Dave Kovach and his staff are in the final stages of moving to a new office, a process that involves transferring tens of thousands of documents to the new location.
Kovach said he's getting ready to say goodbye to the office off Executive Drive that has housed the Cranberry district judge's office for 12 years.
But Butler County rented that building, Kovach said, and will now own its own facility at 9028 Marshall Road. The offices opens Monday.
The building is nearly 8,000 square feet and cost the county more than $700,000 to build.
“Our new facility will be substantially bigger,” Kovach said. “Attorneys and their clients used to have to meet in our kitchen. Now we'll have two conference rooms set up for that.”
The new courtroom will seat more than 30 people, Kovach added, while the facility also will include two secure rooms for prisoners waiting for their preliminary hearings.
“We're getting an all-new bench, all-new furniture,” he said. “My office manager is getting her own office. Each of my assistant clerks are getting their own work stations.”
Unfortunately, Kovach said he hasn't had much time to look forward to the new office. That's because he and his staff have closed the old location and have started the switch to Marshall Road.
That involves crews moving a significant amount of paperwork to the new office.
“We have to move tens of thousands of pieces of paper,” he said. “By law, we have to keep records for the three previous years, but we probably have them going back seven years. It's a good time to do some house cleaning during the move.”
Kovach said he's planning an open house for later for residents to see the new facility, especially since some might not know where the new location is.
The event would celebrate the fact the community finally has its own kind of courthouse, something Kovach said is worth recognizing.
“This has been at least 10 years in the making,” he said. “It's a special occasion for us to finally get our own courtroom down here.”
The building also includes a large basement that will be used for storage, another perk to the new office.
