COLUMBUS – Almost two years of planning and construction culminated in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Town of Columbus courtroom late last week.

The courtroom was a combined effort between the Town of Columbus and the court system headed by Town Justice Richard M. Fornito. According to Fornito, the courtroom actually has multiple purposes in the town. “We had no other meeting place other than the Town Hall,” he said.

Fornito went on to explain that, as court volumes have increased, the town needed a courtroom better equipped to handle them. The new courtroom holds 55 people and is made up of three separate rooms – the courtroom, judge’s chambers, and a jury meeting room.

The jury meeting room itself has multiple purposes, Fornito explained. For example, lawyers now have a place to confer with clients and to meet with each individually in order to discuss plea bargains.

The town justice was first approached about the plan when he took office in 2008. He was asked by the town to submit a grant request in order to see what funds were available. According to Fornito, three separate grants were awarded to the town in order to cover the $60,000 dollar cost of the building.