ALFRED, Maine — The law that funds the building of a new York County Superior Court goes into effect at the end of the month, and the site selection committee that will determine where it’s built begins meeting in August.
LD 1528, sponsored by Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, that was signed by Gov. Paul LePage in April, provides approximately $65 million in funding for constructing a new county courthouse. The law also provides funding to courthouses in Oxford and Waldo counties. The total bond for the three projects is not to exceed $95.6 million, which also includes financing costs.
Mary Ann Lynch, a spokeswoman for the Maine Judicial Branch, said in an email the law goes into effect July 29. The first meeting of the 17-member site selection committee is at 3 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Superior Court in Alfred. York County Commissioner Gary Sinden, who represents the commissioners on the committee, said the goal is to have a site selected by around November.
The new courthouse is estimated to be operational by the end of 2020, according to a timeline from the Maine Judicial Branch.
The lack of judicial space has been one of the main issues at the court. While York County has a similar case load as Cumberland County, the Maine Judicial Branch reports the average length of time for a case to be disposed in York County is 253 days compared with 107 in Cumberland County.
The York County court has only one large courtroom used for jury trials. When juries are picked, the courtroom becomes the jury pool holding area after the Maine fire marshal’s office found last year the basement where the court previously held juries could hold no more than 50 people due to code issues. The jury pool can exceed 150 in some cases, according to court officials.
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