By Jason Graziadei
I&M Senior Writer
A new state committee has convened to consider the consolidation and relocation of courthouses in Massachusetts, and island officials are already mobilizing to get Nantucket District Court out of its crosshairs.
With Governor Deval Patrick’s administration seeking as much as $10 million in budget cuts from the state court system this year, the Court Relocation Committee was established late last month by Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Robert Mulligan, the state’s chief justice for administration and management.
The seven-member committee of judges and lawyers will now review all 103 court locations across the state, and study the possible cost savings from consolidating courthouses based on the criteria of case load, operational expenses, building condition and access to justice.
“The committee was appointed to seek input and provide recommendations on the possible relocation of court operations in light of the significant budget challenges the courts are facing,” said Joan Kenney, spokeswoman for the Supreme Judicial Court. The committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to Mulligan and Marshall, who will have the final say on whether to implement them.
Nantucket District Court, which has the smallest criminal and civil caseload of any courthouse in the state, could be an easy target for the new committee. But the Nantucket Bar Association has already requested that an island representative be appointed to the committee, and sent a letter to Boston on Tuesday outlining its concerns about the possible consolidation of Nantucket District Court.
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