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Justice Center construction going according to plan
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Times photo: Brenda Steurer Elevator shafts for the Green County Justice Center were completed last week and walls are starting to go up. The building is expected to be completed in August 2009.
MONROE - Two months after work began on the county's justice center, people can see how far the building has progressed and how much remains to be done.

Green County Clerk Mike Doyle said the justice center, located on Sixth Street near the Green County Sheriff's Department, is on schedule to be completed by August 2009. Work began in August when the ag building was demolished.

J.P. Cullen from Janesville is in charge of construction.

The shafts for the public elevators were completed last week, Doyle said. In addition, two stairways are expected to be completed by the end of this week.

Work has begun on the tunnel, which will connect the sheriff's department with the justice center. By the end of the month, the steel for the building will be delivered to the site, he added.

There were some concerns, proven unfounded, about the possibility of rock underneath the building site, Doyle said. There were some spots under the foundation where the ground was too soft and breaker rock was brought in to fill those areas.

The Green County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 11, 2007, voted 26-4 to build a $12.6 million justice center. The plan adopted by the board is for a 64,700-square-foot building that will include the Green County court system, the University of Wisconsin-Extension, a multipurpose meeting room and offices for the public defender, probation and parole.

The board voted to go ahead with the project after several months of meeting and research. The reasons for the new building included security concerns at the Green County Courthouse, located on the Square, and needed space. The county also will have a second judge next year after the Legislature voted to give Green County a second circuit court judge.

Two circuit court judges will be elected in April and will take their seats in August.

Thomas Vale and Timothy Burns have announced their intentions to run for the Second Branch of the circuit court. Green County Circuit Court Judge James Beer has announced he will seek another term as judge in the First Branch, and currently has no challengers.