The Athens-Clarke County Government is working to address elevator issues at the courthouse. Two of the building’s three elevators are currently down. Chief Judge Lisa Lott says the restoration process will be a lengthy one.
“The county is busy working on restoring those elevators,” Lott said. “It is going to take many months, because the elevators are old and the parts are not easily replaceable, but the county is working on it and that is in full force.”
Georgia law requires all courtrooms be accessible to the public. There are two contingency plans in place. The first is to continue current steps to alleviate limited use of the elevator.
“We have devised a plan to move courtrooms, to go to separate county locations, to move Superior Court, for example, to different courtrooms in the courthouse that they are unaccustomed to. In State Court, we are moving Municipal Court to City Hall. Those are parts of our contingency plan B that we will implement should that third elevator go down.”
Lott says the current elevator has been deemed safe by both the county’s facilities management and the fire marshal. Residents can also view court proceedings online on the ACCGov website.
