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Future of Toledo Municipal Court building being discussed

Toledo City Council is holding a committee hearing on November 19 at 2 p.m. to discuss the future of the Toledo Municipal Court building.

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Toledo City Council is holding a committee hearing on November 19 at 2 p.m. to discuss the future of the Toledo Municipal Court building.

Judge Michael Goulding said it is time for the city to seriously plan to build a new courthouse as the current structure is flawed.

"We do have air conditioning, which is nice, but there's not a furnace in this building,"said Goulding.

Goulding said  when it was built in 1975 it was not designed to handle the amount of people who come in now on a daily basis.

"If you've been here in any morning docket session, whether it's arraignment docket on the second floor or trial dockets on the third floor, we have a huge security problem," said Goulding.

Councilman Mike Collins supports planning for a new courthouse.

"Quite frankly to invest more money into this building is putting good money into a bad building," said Collins.

Collins said the city should also explore teaming up with Lucas County for a new municipal court and a new county jail at the same location.

"I've had preliminary conversations with Sheriff-Elect John Tharp, and perhaps we could merge these two facilities and create a new concept with a criminal justice coordinator," said Collins.

Judge Goulding said it is an option worth looking into.

"Many new court facilities combine jail and courthouse. It saves on transportation costs, saves on security. There's a lot of savings to be achieved by combining those two. Whether that happens at the end of the day I don't know," said Goulding.

Collins said the city should pursue federal funding.

"We were defined to be the epicenter of this election, then let's not let them forget us," said Collins.

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