County Family Court Getting Remodel

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County’s Family Court facilities will be remodeled to improve safety for litigants and county staff.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Chief Judge Carl Ashley has said the cramped conditions on the seventh floor of the courthouse can contribute to volatile situations in courtrooms and inefficient use of resources.

“Principally, it’s about safety and access,” Ashley said of the remodel during a county board committee meeting in September. The chief judge said the emotional turbulence of family court is like a criminal court “on steroids.” The courts handle divorce and child custody cases, among others.

“You have that small little area with litigants who aren’t happy with each other in close proximity,” Ashley said, “which is a recipe for disaster.”

There are 10 family court commissioners and some are working in 11-by-20-foot rooms, Ashley said. “11 by 20 and including the bench and a spot for the clerk, which takes up two-thirds of that area,” he said. “The remaining area is for the litigants, child support attorney, the guardian ad litem, any witnesses, squeezed into a little room.”

The poor layout also leaves a number of these commissioners without private officers or chambers. What’s more, without any areas closed off to the public there are times when commissioners return to their chambers and find people sitting in them, Ashley said. This also means that the Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO), which is tasked with court security, has to maintain a larger footprint than needed, according to the chief judge.

At their September meeting, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved additional funding for the project including $4.3 million for construction.

The funding was part of a proposal for spending down the county’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act Funding, of which there is approximately $10.3 million in unallocated funds.

The county administration proposed shifting the federal COVID-19 stimulus funding toward some payroll expenses freeing up property tax money for the remodel. The chief judge had sought funding for the project in the 2024 budget. But it wasn’t eligible for borrowing to cover the cost and it didn’t make the narrow list of projects the county could afford to cash finance. Given that, an ad-hoc county committee focused on infrastructure projects did not recommend it for funding. Now Judge Ashley’s call for a remodel is being answered.

The seventh floor of the courthouse isn’t the only county judicial facility needing overhaul. County Executive David Crowley‘s recommended the 2024 budget includes some initial funding to begin the development of a new criminal courthouse to replace the dilapidated Safety Building, 821 W. State St. It’s estimated that a new criminal courthouse will cost the county more than $488 million.