We’re getting closer to a substantial remodel at the Dallas County Courthouse, as several offices have already moved and others will be soon.

There are two overriding factors that have necessitated changes to the historic courthouse in Adel, the first being the space needs of the Treasurer’s Office. Currently, the Department of Motor Vehicles and driver’s license station are both housed in a small, off-site building in Adel. Given the large amount of traffic for both departments, moving one to another location has been a necessity for years. The second factor is the court system, as the 5th Judicial Court has demanded more courtrooms from the County due to its population crossing the 80,000 residents threshold.

The County has been working with the Design Alliance architecture firm on floor plans for a reshuffled courthouse, and they’ve gone out for bid on phase one. The bids will be received December 4th and phase one construction will be awarded shortly after. The first phase includes remodeling the east side of the second floor, which is currently vacant, and moving the Clerk of Court and Juvenile Court Services into the space. Once that’s done, phase two will be to move the DMV to the east side of the first floor, while also moving the Treasurer’s Tax Department and Recorder’s Office to the west side. Finally phase three will be to turn the west side of the second floor into two new courtrooms.

County Treasurer Mitch Hambleton says the process has been a bit of a shell game to this point, but he feels the proposed layout will work out for each department. He adds, the office shifting has been a long time coming, and it’s gratifying to see tangible progress. “It’s exciting, you know, but it all takes time. And to be able to finally get to the point where we have plans — I’ve seen building plans, I’ve talked with the architect about where we build walls and what office furnishings we want to look at to meet our needs — (it’s) exciting to see, desperately needed, but we’re definitely going in the correct direction!”

To learn more about the Dallas County Courthouse renovation, click the link below to listen to the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Hambleton.

https://raccoonvalleyradio.com/2018/11/lets-talk-dallas-county-11292018-mitch-hambleton/