Close to Home: Stopping courthouse project poses security risk for county

Gov. Jerry Brown proudly reflects on his father’s legacy, particularly as it concerns the state highway system, 11 university campuses and a 400-mile aqueduct. As the governor nears the end of his political career, with great vigor he seeks to match his father’s accomplishments and leave us with high-speed rail from Sacramento to San Diego, elaborate water tunnels through the Central Valley and a rainy day fund; reserves to avoid the peaks and valleys of economic prosperity and decline.

Brown will leave office boasting of budget surpluses, but it will be at a price to Sonoma County. Without apology, he has redirected $1.4 billion in the courts’ construction funds placing it in the state’s general fund. The reallocation of funds has halted the completion of the local criminal courthouse, which was slated to be completed in 2020. In his budget, Brown put away $2 billion more than is required by Proposition 2, the Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund Act. Through years of imposing construction fund fines and fees, litigants from Sonoma County had contributed substantial monies to the courts’ Immediate and Critical Needs Account and the State Court Facilities Construction Fund.

For example, during the 2015-2016 fiscal year, $952,829 was contributed to the facilities construction fund and $567,641 to the critical needs account.

The governor is an advocate of building and maintaining a strong infrastructure. Public buildings, including courthouses, are part of the infrastructure and merit the same consideration.

The action involving our courthouse is also wasteful. As noted in a recent Press Democrat story, the project is being stopped mid-stream (“Plans for new Santa Rosa courthouse on hold, again,” Sept. 12). The state had already spent more than $20 million in purchasing the land from the county, demolishing the prior structure and almost completing architectural drawings. To facilitate the construction, the county has relocated some of its operations and relied on the construction plan. The court continues to pay rent for a courthouse that is rife with safety and security issues.

This is not a vanity project. There are more than 500 courthouses in California. In 2009, 41 courthouses were identified as having critical problems: security, safety, physical deterioration and inadequate space for dedicated uses. From this list, 23 were deemed to have the “most critical need.” The Sonoma County criminal courthouse Hall of Justice is on this short list. It is a priority project because the courthouse is unsafe for two significant reasons - vulnerability to seismic damage and threat of injury or escape by inmates due to inadequate security.

The current criminal courthouse is located in an area expected to experience the most significant impact in the event of an earthquake. The courthouse was built more than 50 years ago without the seismic engineering presently understood and utilized. The present courthouse is located near four faults - the San Andreas, Rodgers Creek, Healdsburg and Mayacamas. Our courthouse is rated a Risk Level V: substantial risk to life; substantial structural damage with likely partial collapse. Inmates are walked through public corridors, crossing paths with victims and their families, opportunities are presented for rival gang members to interface. Clearly this increases the potential for conflict or escape. Even in “secure” corridors, judges, staff and inmates routinely share the hall.

We should not be summoning with the threat of contempt, the attendance of prospective jurors, witnesses and parties into an unsafe facility. Our elected officials and community leaders should join with the judiciary to recapture this necessary funding and complete this much-needed courthouse. The courts are beholden to the governor for funding, apart from the facilities issue. As a consequence of this dependence, the courts must rely on legislative action and community outrage to restore funding and finish this courthouse.

Gayle Guynup is a retired Sonoma County judge who routinely sits on assignment throughout Northern California. She is an appointed community member of the Project Advisory Group for the proposed new Sonoma County Criminal Courthouse.