(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Glens Falls City Councilors, Mary Gooden, Ben Lapham, and Diana Palmer sit behind the dais in the "well" of of the Common Council chamber, waiting for the Common Council meeting to begin. Mayor Bill Collins is hidden behind a computer monitor. The dais will be removed and reconfigured under design changes planned for the room.
The third floor courtroom and Common Council chamber in Glens Falls City Hall will see a renovation that officials say will provide better access for people with disabilities. It will also update the dais in the circular “well” of the room and clean up water damage, stains, broken or missing floor tiles and peeling paint.
A six-person jury box will be added near the "well," and technological updates are coming.
The initial work is a “study for ADA compliance and upgrade of the aesthetics of the room,” said Tanya Bruno, with CPL Associates, the architecture firm in Latham. Her firm won the contract for the redesign in March.
The $9,860 initial study aimed at discerning the needs of the city and New York court system, which both use the space. From there, a basic design of the space was formed.
CPL and Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins confirmed that both sides have agreed to the basic design.
“We have achieved general consensus, of what their [the courts system's] needs are and what our needs are,” the mayor said.
The “well” of the room, a rounded area where the judge or the city council sits during procedures, with its scroll work in the domed ceiling, will remain.
The semi-circle of painted, plywood desks inside the “well” area will be removed and the replacement will be split into three portions, allowing a different configuration depending on the use.
According to Collins, when the Common Council is in session, all three portions will attach to form a semi-circle, similar to the current configuration, with the mayor at the center of the arc and the council spreading left and right from there.
When court is in session, the judge’s chair will remain in the same location as in the mayor’s configuration, but the tables to the left and right will break off and move away from the judge, forming a prosecution and a defense table.
An ADA accessible ramp will run behind and around the tables allowing access to people in wheelchairs. The six-person jury box, also designed for ADA accessibility, will sit to the right of the judge outside the “well” area.
Beyond the price of the initial study, no budget has been set, and there has not been an estimate of the cost to complete the renovations. More detailed plans and a budget are expected by the end of the month, the mayor said.
The New York court system partners with the city in the use of the building and will reimburse the city for a portion of the construction work, using a formula that is based upon the percentage of space the court uses and whether the work is directly related to the court's needs or is a shared expense.