KEALAKEKUA — Staff at Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office in Kealakekua spent Tuesday moving supplies and furniture to an adjacent office in an effort to expand space for employees.
“We’ve outgrown this space, which is why we negotiated for the other,” said First Deputy Prosecutor Dale Ross.
At about 8,500 square feet between the two offices, Ross said prosecutors and staff are looking forward to the day they get to move into a new building in downtown Kona.
In January, a bid was awarded to Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. to construct the new prosecutor’s office, which will be built at the West Hawaii Civic Center campus on the south side of Building G. Notice to proceed is scheduled to be issued in mid-March, according to Barett Otani, information and education specialist for the county Department of Public Works.
With a price tag of $14.072 million, the project is slated to be completed one year after the notice to proceed has been given. It will be funded via a December bond issuance approved by the County Council.
During a walk-through of the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday, people were seen hauling filing cabinets out on dollies to the new space around the corner, which will house four counselors and two clerical assistants from the Victim Services Unit.
The office the counselors are vacating is to make room for a federal probation officer who currently commutes to the Hilo prosecutor’s office. A legal assistant, working in a cubical in the Kealakekua prosecutor’s office, will also move into the recently opened space.
As they shuffle people around to make room for the 28 employees, which includes 10 deputy attorneys, it is evident that they have outgrown their Kealakekua office. Case file boxes stacked shelves nearly to the ceiling in a library area toward the back of the building.
The office also supports the Waimea office.
“It’d be nice to have a space to have staff meetings,” Ross said. “Right now we’re using the library area.”
The new prosecutor’s office will be approximately 11,000 square feet and about 3 miles from the new courthouse on Makala Boulevard.
Construction of the new courthouse began in October 2016. Jan M. Kagehiro, spokeswoman for Hawaii State Judiciary, said the building is on schedule to be complete by late spring in 2019 with a planned opening in late summer.
Currently, there are four different courtrooms in three different locations in Kona. The new courthouse will have five.
“As you have new courtrooms added, you need to have deputies to serve them,” Ross said.
Lee E. Lord, business manager for the prosecutor’s office, described the new building as a two-story structure with the upstairs as the main entrance.
Lord said the second floor will house Victim Services Unit, investigators and support staff. The first floor will house administrative offices, deputy prosecutors, including clerical staff. Conference and meeting rooms will be throughout the building.
“It’s being built to withstand the projected growth for the next 30 years,” Lord said.
I find it funny…in lieu of Better Hospitals the prosecutors get new digs first? Seems the priorities are a bit out of line.