Renovations to the Jefferson City municipal court are in full swing as contractors work toward an October deadline.
City Counselor Ryan Moehlman anticipates the bulk of the renovations will be complete by Oct. 31, allowing the court to move into its new home at the City Annex Building, 427 Monroe St.
Municipal court is currently held in the City Council chambers at 320 E. McCarty St.
"It's going really well," Moehlman said. "It seems like work is flying because it's progressing really nicely. All of the new walls have been framed out, so when you go in there you can get a sense of the space and how big the courtroom is and things that are important to us. You can get an idea of how the administrative staff area is going to work, and the offices for our prosecutors and judges seem to be more than enough."
In June, the Jefferson City Council approved a $552,143 contract with General Contractor GBH Builders Inc. to renovate the City Annex Building. Renovations began shortly after.
The new municipal court will contain offices for prosecutors and judges, benches for judges and clerks, updated bathrooms, a security area, a transaction desk, a private consultation room and an assigned waiting area.
During Wednesday's Jefferson City Council Committee on Administration meeting, Moehlman proposed naming the new courtroom, which will seat about 120 people, as it will be a "signature room." The current courtroom seats about 100 individuals.
"It's one of the spaces in the city's portfolio where lots of people are going to end up being familiar with, whether it's used for municipal court or used as a meeting space," Moehlman said. "It's a space we anticipate lots of members of the public using and we've taken care to make it a place that people don't mind being in."
While the committee did not have any name suggestions at the time, members said they were interested in naming the courtroom.
Before the City Annex Building became the municipal court's new home, the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department resided in its upper floor until its offices moved to The Linc at 1299 Lafayette St.
The Jefferson City Fire Department administration is located in the basement of the City Annex Building and will remain there after renovations.