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Court discusses moving JP office to LEC

Wed, 10/21/2020 - 5:00 am

Jack County Commissioners discussed the possibility of moving the Justice of the Peace Court from the courthouse basement out to the Law Enforcement Center.

Judge Keith Umphress said the court has been looking for the better part of 18 months for a suitable facility, such as the Davis Building, the vacant building next to Jacksboro National Bank and other but it would be hard to make feasible. Another idea strongly being considered was to swap out the DPS and Game Warden offices from the LEC and move the JP offices over there.

Before moving over to the LEC some renovation would need to be done to the LEC and Spurlock’s present offices.

Renovations would need to be done and would help dramatically. “This is y’all’s decision and is not mine,” Spurlock said. “We’re also looking to renovate the district courtroom as well.”

The amount of money that can be received from any Justice of the peace Court has been increased from $1,000 a year to $20,000 in 2020, Spurlock explained.

To get perspective of DPS on this, Trooper Meagan Hart said they would need room for five on this, including warden Tweedle, who recently moved back to the area after taking a job down in the Waco area.

Hart said having a door and a window to the foyer would be great. Making sure the agreement is good for both parties is important. Making sure the new offices have enough outlets is major for both parties. Umphress said the court would go on a field trip and look at the logistics of both buildings. No decision was made on that.

A discussion on how to handle renovation of the district courtroom also yielded no action. Precinct 4 Commissioner Terry Ward said he’d like to see the job handled for under $50,000, which means the county doesn’t have to go out for bids but more than likely means the county does the work itself.

“If we do the job slow, maybe the walls first, we can do this,” Ward said.

Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Hefner said there are a number of capable people in the area than came to the job but it’s getting them in there and making sure the job gets finished which is paramount. Umphress said roughly $150,000 has been earmarked for both the district and JP Court renovations.