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CUMBERLAND — Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot sees the development of the new Allegany County District Court building through a partnership of the private and public sectors as “the wave of the future.”
Franchot visited the new two-story building on South Liberty Street during an informal open house held Friday by Paul Kelly, chief developer representing the 123 South Liberty LLC that owns the building. The LLC is comprised of 10 local community members.
“This project is the wave of the future, particularly because of the government and private sector working together. The government should not try to run the economy.
“I hope to see more projects like this in the future. This an example of Allegany County leading the way for the rest of the state,” said Franchot, who said Allegany County is also leading the state in two other areas — financial literacy and school maintenance.
Cas Taylor, former Maryland Speaker of the House, said Franchot was “very supportive of the project and helped make it possible” in his role as a member of the Board of Public Works that approved the project.
“This event is a wonderful way to create a private and public partnership. I compliment the comptroller for supporting the project the way he did. This district court project was a long time coming and it would have taken a lot longer without the comptroller’s support and the support of the delegation. The only piece of money that the state had for the project when it was being talked about several years ago was $250,000 for site acquisition.
“The public and private sector partnership moved the project up by seven years,” said Taylor.
Kelly said the district court building at Pershing and Liberty streets is worth $10 million. “It is saving the state of Maryland, by its own estimates, about $1 million a year,” said Kelly.
Kelly hosted Friday’s informal open house that included remarks by District Court Judge Ted Malloy. The dignitaries included Franchot, the Allegany County legislative delegation and other judicial and elected officials. “This is a celebration to celebrate finally getting the new courthouse facility and thanking everyone involved,” he said.
The 40,000-square-foot district court building in downtown Cumberland houses district court officers including court commissioners, administrative and clerk officers, courtrooms, conference rooms, holding cells for prisoners that are out of public view, security office, as well as offices of the district court division of the State’s Attorney Office and the Maryland Department of Parole and Probation.
Peggy Ryan, acting administrative clerk, said the building opened in May of last year and logged 29,392 cases in the 14-month period from June 2009 through August 2010. Those cases include 16,852 non-serious traffic cases; 2,804 must-appear traffic cases; 1,689 landlord/tenant cases and 2,559 civil cases.
“The caseload in Allegany County District Court has continued to increase. It’s nothing for us to do 15-20 bond review hearings every day,” said Ryan.
Domestic violence cases are also continuing to increase in Allegany County, as well as statewide, Ryan said.
District court in Allegany County formerly operated at the building next door that now houses the Allegany Museum.
Ryan said the new building in use for the past 16 months is “is a wonderful improvement.”
“It’s a bright, beautiful building that provides easy access for the public,” said Ryan. “It’s a 100 percent improvement over what we had before.”
Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.
Local News
Related Photos
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From left: Judge Ted Malloy, Carl Belt, Jr. from general contractor Carl Belt, Inc. and developer Paul Kelly talk in a courtroom Friday afternoon during an open house of the Allegany County District Court building at 123 S. Liberty St. in Cumberland. The new courthouse facility has been open since May 2009. John A. Bone/Times-News
Comptroller says court project ‘wave of the future’
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