COURT REMAINS IN SESSION
Move to Convention Center helps bottom line, eases traffic, eviction case loads
The bright light and wide-open spaces inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center were a comfort to Roy Burrell as he waited for his traffic case to be heard by a magistrate.
“It’s not a bad feeling,” the 34-yearold North Side resident said, a mask hiding his smile. “I actually like this. It’s more relaxed and freer” than a traditional courthouse.
The spaciousness of the convention center Downtown is so conducive to social distancing that the Franklin County Municipal Court moved traffic and eviction hearings – its busiest dockets – from the courthouse to two levels of meeting rooms off the North High Street entrance at the convention center on June 1 as COVID-19 cases surged.
The arrangement was expected to last through the summer. But with no end in sight for the pandemic, the con
tract between the city and the Convention Facilities Authority has been extended until at least Dec. 31.
The bill for the seven-month rental is $749,140, according to Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Ted Barrows, the court’s administrative judge.
The city is covering the cost through its share of money from the CARES Act, an economic stimulus package approved by Congress in March to address the financial fallout from the pandemic.
The federal funds expire at the end
of the year, and Barrows is uncertain how the city will fund court operations at the convention center if there is a need to extend the contract into 2021.
The contract has been a welcome source of revenue for the Convention Center, but has done little to offset the huge losses it has endured from the cancellation of major conventions and trade shows, said Don L. Brown, executive director of the Convention Facilities Authority.
The authority expects to lose $5 million this year, he said. Before the pandemic hit, the Convention Center anticipated turning a profit of $1.5 million.
The facility has furloughed or laid off about 75% of its workforce of about 200, Brown said.
The authority also had to restructure its debt in response to plunging revenue from hotel-room sales and bed taxes, which are used to cover the debt-service on the bonds that financed Convention Center expansions and construction of adjacent hotels.
In April, the city and county were contemplating the possibility of having to cover the $16.3 million in debt-service payments on the bonds for the next two years. The authority instead chose to restructure the debt, stretching the payments over additional years, “so we don’t need to call on the loan guarantees by the city and county,” he said.
The Municipal Court has benefited greatly from the sudden availability of space in the Convention Center, Judge Barrows said.
“There is a finite amount of space in the courthouse and a finite number of hours to spread out the times for people to come in for their cases,” he said.
The Municipal Court’s building, at South High and Fulton streets, has a cramped area for security to screen the public and an even tighter area around its bank of elevators, making social distancing a significant challenge.
“We have an obligation to maintain the health and safety of the public,” Barrows said. “Using the Convention Center is far better for everyone.”
In addition to two spacious court
rooms for traffic cases and one for eviction cases, the Convention Center accommodations include a room for the county public defender’s office, another for the Municipal Clerk of Courts, a “self-help” center, and space for agencies that provide mediation services and financial assistance. There also are overflow seating areas in case the courtrooms reach capacity.
For Gloria Nicely, a 73-year-old
North Side resident, it made for a better experience than she expected.
“It went great,” she said as she left a meeting hall after pleading guilty to an amended speeding offense in front of Magistrate Tony Paat. “It’s a lot smoother” than the courthouse.
“They were nice and very fair. And they gave me 30 days to pay.” jfutty@dispatch.com @johnfutty