THE MOVE INTO the new Carroll County Courthouse, which will house Carroll County Superior and Probate courts and Southern Carroll County District Court, continues to be delayed, according to Peter Goodwin, administrator of the state’s Bureau of Court Facilities.

The new $4.5 million courthouse located in Ossipee was slated to be operational by November 2003, but construction delays have pushed back the opening of the court. According to Goodwin, insulation was improperly installed in the building by the contractor, Hutter Construction, and the state is waiting for that situation to be remedied before it will accept the new courthouse. In addition, at press time, there was about another week’s worth of punch list items to tend to, including painting, finishing trim, and other minor work. Because of these delays, a move-in date was still "up in the air," Goodwin said.

Both Carroll County Probate Court and Southern Carroll County District Court – which serves the towns of Brookfield, Effingham, Freedom, Moultonborough, Ossipee, Sanbornville, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonboro, Wakefieldand Wolfeboro – currently lease space in the county’s administration building. The state negotiated an extension of the lease due to the delay in the completion of the new courthouse.

Meanwhile, the state is moving forward with the next of its court consolidation projects: Possible sites are being reviewed for a new courthouse that would house the Exeter and Hampton district courts.

Exeter District Court serves the towns of Exeter, Newmarket, Stratham, Newfields, Fremont, East Kingston, Kensington, Epping and Brentwood. Hampton District Court serves Hampton, Hampton Falls, North Hampton, South Hampton and Seabrook.

Goodwin said that the Bureau of Court Facilities has begun meeting with town officials to discuss possible locations for the new consolidated court. There are currently about a half-dozen sites being considered, Goodwin said. They include the current Exeter High School, which will be vacated with the planned 2006 opening of a new high school; the site of the current Hampton District Courthouse, which would be removed to construct the new court; town-owned property in Seabrook; and state-owned property off Route 101.

According to Goodwin, the factors that go into selecting a site for a consolidated courthouse include accessibility for the towns the court will serve, and cost. The state looks for town- or state-owned property that can be obtained at little or no cost.

The new Exeter/Hampton court would be similar in cost and scope to the Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court in Jaffrey, which is a 2-½ story, 24,000-square-foot facility that carried a price tag of $2.6 million and opened last March. Goodwin said he anticipates that funding for the Exeter/Hampton project will be requested for the 2006-07 biennium.

The state developed a master plan in the 1980s that called for about a dozen court consolidation projects. According to Goodwin, the state is working to consolidate courts that may be housed in inadequate facilities – buildings that are not 100 percent ADA compliant, for example – or that are renting or leasing space. "Economically it makes more sense because rather than renting various facilities in which to house these courts, the courts can be consolidated into one state-owned facility," said Goodwin.

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