Judge Maria Granger is still trying to get used to her new title, but not the job that awaits her on the fourth floor of the City-County Building.
Granger officially opened Floyd County’s new court — Superior Court No. 3 — Monday morning. Her fourth-floor office and new court are nearly complete, and her staff of four is in place. On Jan. 20, she will conduct her first session.
“I’m very excited,” she said Monday. “We have had so much support from the different offices and the commissioners.”
Crews with Upton Pry Inc. began renovating the fourth floor and building the new court in September with a price tag of $716,000. Except for adding a few finishing touches, the work is almost complete.
Granger defeated Republican Rick Fox by 2,695 votes in the November election to win the judge’s seat. She said the day following the election, she began working on making the transition and putting her staff in place.
“It’s definitely a different role,” she said of going from attorney to judge. “I plan on taking it one day at a time.”
She kept an eye on the construction of the new court over the past three months, she noted, and added that she is pleased with the final product.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said.
The court will be the first in the building to work with Odyssey, a new state judicial program, Granger said. Superior Court No. 3 will work with domestic cases and protective orders. The court also will handle 25 percent of C felony or above cases, and 33 percent of the murder cases in the county.
Superior Court No. 2 Judge Glenn Hancock will have the outside wall of his court replaced with a soundproof one once work on Granger’s court is complete.
“You can hear everything out in the hallway. Just normal conversation,” Hancock said of the current wall.
Hancock was one of the visitors to wish Granger well Monday morning. He said a new court should help ease the case load.
“It’s bound to help,” he said. “I think the jail overcrowding is due to people waiting for trial. I hope the new court will help quickly.”
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January 7, 2009
Granger takes reins of Floyd County’s new court
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