By Daniel Pye
The City of Tonawanda court will begin handling more cases in the next month or two, and that has meant shuffling staff to make due with limited space inside City Hall.
City Court Judge Joseph Cassata said in the one-size-fits-all courts that existed when he started out in law 30 years ago, people came out of jail with the same problems they had going in. His goal in 13 years on the bench was to turn a part-time court into a full-time court with full-time resources. In that time, the system has added specific courts for domestic violence, alcohol, gambling, drugs and even veterans.
With those added scheduling duties and an increased caseload came a need for more people, who in turn had to be shuffled into the same amount of space.
“In the past several years, with the advent of specialty courts, the Tonawanda City Court was more like a sardine can court,” Cassata said.
He soon will add mental health court to that list, further complicating the space concerns. The cramped quarters have already pushed police Lt. Fred Foels, who is in charge of the department’s records, out of his office beside the court and down to the building’s basement. The space Foels once occupied on his own is now filled by two people working for the court.
The move means a little added travel time for the lieutenant when it comes to filing records away or pulling files to bring back up.
“The only inconvenience for me is it means I’m up and down the stairs all day,” Foels said.
Courthouse shuffle
The hope is that Foels can eventually move back to his old office to keep the operation streamlined. But for that to happen, the people in there now will need a new office.
There are a few places where that extra space could be developed, but a patio area just outside the corridor leading from the police department’s wing of the building is the most promising spot so far. The spot already had a floor and three walls surrounding it, which could bring the cost for enclosing it lower.
But Mayor Ron Pilozzi said there’s still some research that needs to be done before any plans can be made. The mayor and City Engineer Jason LaMonaco had Bergmann Associates take a look at the space this past week to determine, among other things, if the area could support the weight of the necessary cabinets, furniture and personnel.
“Jason asked them to come up with a quote to get that area set aside for an office, and we should know hopefully in the next week or so,” Pilozzi said.
Cost versus benefit
While the court system will bear some of the cost for the interior of the office, the city will have to foot the bill for at least the walls and roof. And with talk still circulating about possibly relocating City Hall away from its waterfront location on Niagara Street, the mayor said cost will have to be taken into account on more than one level.
The existing City Hall building sits atop prime real estate and alongside a water plant and sewage plant — both of which are slated to be demolished and, hopefully, sold for redevelopment. Pilozzi said the cost of updating City Hall’s aging electrical wiring, plumbing and other routine maintenance are factors in any decision to relocate, as is the price the city could get for the land.
But the court system likely won’t wait, and the mayor is hopeful that, once state aid is calculated and added in, the cost of a small expansion won’t be prohibitive.
“My hope right now is that it comes up at a fairly reasonable price so we can buy some time,” Pilozzi said.
For the time being, mental health court is coming and staff will have to make due in the space they have. While it’s not an ideal situation, Cassata said addressing the specific concerns of each person who comes before him is worth the effort.
“It’s your children. It’s your parents. It’s your schoolmates,” Cassata said. “It’s anybody and everybody in our community.”
Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.
