Commissioners approve courthouse space study and agree to host veterans court

The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners approved a space study for the Rockingham County Courthouse and voted to host a veterans court, Commissioner Kevin Berger said.

Berger said the courthouse is already short of space as the county prepares to expand services. "We're getting indications from the state about expanding services that we're going to have to have space for. That includes the potential public defender's office for the court system and with the expansion of these services we're already out of space at the courthouse and this study will just give us some ideas as to possible solutions as additional space is needed," Berger said.

Commissioner Berger said the study will identify where additional office space is needed and for which groups. "The study may show that there are needs for more office space in the courthouse and as the study produces, we will know where that it that we would need to add more space, and for what group," Commissioner Jeff Cowell said while agreeing on the need to assess space (note: Cowell spoke in support during the discussion).

The board also approved hosting a veterans court. Berger described the program: "what happens is if a veteran has a run-in with the law, then the district attorney and the veteran court coordinator work together to identify those veterans that are eligible to go through veterans court and potentially have those any charges dismissed. There's also other services that are available for veterans." He said Rockingham County has approximately 6,000 veterans who served in the U.S. armed forces.

Cowell said he supported the action and thanked those who helped make the veterans court possible. The transcript did not record formal vote tallies or the names of motion makers and seconders.

The county posted the full meeting on its YouTube page and provided a link on the Rockingham County website.