Pope discusses courthouse office changes with board

By BRYAN HELLIOS

[email protected]

Bessemer - Gogebic County Circuit Court Judge Michael Pope gave a presentation at the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday regarding office changes in the courthouse.

Pope said the move was primarily to get court staff on the same floor.

"We have already moved two offices and the third is being moved (today)," he said.

The Department of Corrections offices have moved from upstairs down to the annex. The District Court probation staff, which was in the annex was moved into the old Probate Court offices on the first floor.

The Probate Court staff will be moved upstairs to join the other court staff on their same level.

Having all the court staff on the same floor will provide easier access to cross-train and allow staff the ability to learn from each other, Pope said.

"It does not help when you have staff upstairs and staff downstairs and they can't see what each other does day-to-day," he said.

Another reason Pope gave for the move was based on security concerns arising from the proximity of reporting felony probationers in the hallway the outside the Department of Corrections offices that was at times congested by other members of the public including judges, police officers and jury members.

"When we had a jury trial, our jury, our citizens had to walk past this," Pope said.

In other business the board:

-Received and placed on file a survey regarding hydroelectric projects from Excel Energy. A copy of the survey was forwarded to the Forestry and Parks Department.

-Showed support for HB 4227 to create a Committee on Michigan's Mining Future.

-Thanked Sgt. George Beninghaus for his 36 years of service to the Gogebic County Sheriff's Department.

-Approved Heidi DeRosso for the position of Emergency Management-911 Coordinator.