Polk County officials began planning to reconfigure courthouse space to prepare for a domestic-relations circuit judge expected to take office Jan. 1, 2027.
Justice Ivy introduced the topic and said the domestic-relations judge will not assume the bench until Jan. 1, 2027, and the county should begin considering space changes well before then. County staff and officials discussed converting a Second Floor conference room that adjoins a judge’s chambers into a courtroom for domestic-relations matters; the room is larger than the existing courtroom but domestic-relations cases do not require a jury box, the officials said.
Court operations staff (identified in the transcript as Ben and another staff member who referenced prior measurements) described options including making the upstairs room a full-time courtroom with built-in audiovisual wiring (some AV infrastructure was noted as already wired upstairs) and reconfiguring the current courtroom for dual use, training, or hearings. Officials noted the county currently operates with four judges and three courtrooms and that a legislative effort to add a fifth circuit judge stalled in the last session but may return; they discussed planning to ensure the county can accommodate four judges and four courtrooms before the possibility of five judges occurring.
Officials said they likely need to make a decision in the second quarter of next year to allow time for design and conversion work to be completed well ahead of the judge taking office in 2027. No appropriation, timeline, or contractor selection was approved at the meeting; the discussion was exploratory and intended to guide future planning.
Why it matters: courtroom capacity affects scheduling, access to court services, and the physical logistics of daily court operations as caseloads and judicial staffing change.
Discussion and next steps: staff and justices agreed to continue planning and to develop a functional configuration; officials suggested targeting a decision by mid-next year to allow for conversion work to be completed in time for the new judge.
Ending: The discussion closed with a directive to study configurations and return with proposals for space conversion and cost estimates.