Final preparations for new Kings County courthouse underway

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- Final preparations are underway for the opening of the new Kings County courthouse in Hanford. Court has been closed since late last week, and will reopen at the new state of the art facility tomorrow at 8 a.m.

Generally government employees get President's Day off, but not for anyone involved in the move from the old courthouse to the new one. "Gotta make sure court's going," said Shane Bergstrom, Automation Analyst with California Courts.

So while court may be closed, county and state workers are putting in long hours, plugging in and setting up.

The brand new, state-of-the-art, $100 million dollar facility will open on Tuesday morning. It took two years to build, with only one long weekend to move. "A lot of stuff to move, so we basically have four days to get everything out of the old building, and then everything working in the new building," Bergstrom said.

At least it's day four of the move. But Superior Court Judge Donna Tarter says they won't get relief until Tuesday morning, when they'll know what works and what doesn't. "But I think everybody here knows that we're just going to have to be patient, and we're going to make it run and we're going to serve the community the best that we can," Tarter said.

Tarter says the new courthouse is designed to keep inmates secure and community members safe. And it's consolidated, meaning all the courts-- civil, criminal, and family are here. "We needed to have a secure facility and bring in all of the courthouses that we had in other towns (they) are all here now, so we have eight courtrooms," Tarter said.