Belmont County Commissioners Jerry Echemann, left, J.P. Dutton, right, and Sheriff David Lucas, center, guide a tour in the new consolidated county courts and prosecutor’s office Wednesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — After a year of extensive renovation, one of two buildings formerly owned by The Health Plan is ready to house Belmont County’s Northern, Eastern and Western Division courts and the prosecutor’s office.

On Wednesday, Belmont County commissioners toured the new justice center, as the consolidated courts and prosecutor’s office is being unofficially called. At 28,000 square feet, the upper building on the property located at 52180 National Road, St. Clairsville, holds courtrooms and offices for Northern Judge Chris Berhalter, Western Judge Eric Costine and Eastern Judge David Trouten, as well as for Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan and his staff.

It features a spacious lobby and courtrooms. The contrast to the cramped Western Court facilities is noticeable.

“They started up with an empty shell,” maintenance supervisor Jack Regis said. “It’s so beautiful. People should really be proud of this.”

The prosecutor’s office had occupied the upper floor of the building used by Western Division Court. Flanagan said the move will be a great benefit to his office’s capabilities and efficiency.

“It’s actually hard to compare the place we were in before to the place that we’re moving into now,” he said, thanking current and former commissioners involved in the process.

“Long ago we outgrew that place and the commissioners … had recognized that we needed to have a place suitable for the needs and worthy of the work that we are doing,” he said. “We are able to adequately have the staff in order to do the job the public deserves.

“We were not able to do many of the things we wanted to do as a prosecutor’s office, just because of the limited space. Now, it essentially has brought all of us under one roof,” he said.

“The security has been increased immensely. It essentially has a small jail in the belly of that building. Court appearances will occur in a much more secure environment,” he said. “All of these things were lacking before, and I do think the commissioners recognized it.”

He added that the building is accessible to people with disabilities, while the prior office was not.

“Obviously, because of COVID we do a lot of video conferencing. This building will be situated in order to provide … state-of-the-art video conferencing abilities that our old office simply did not have prior to the move,” he continued.

“The office provides us the necessary space to handle the large volume of foot traffic that we get,” Flanagan said. “We serve the public, and the public needs to have that ability to make contact with us. … We can have multiple meetings contemporaneous with each other.”

The courts and prosecutor’s office are expected to be in full service at the new facility by next week.

Sheriff David Lucas was on hand to point out the security features of the building and the process of transporting and holding inmates who will be brought before one of the judges, as well as taking defendants into custody. Inmates from the jail can be housed in miniature jail facilities without going through any public areas and will no longer await their hearings in large groups in the jury box.

“It was a high security risk and a safety risk,” Lucas said of the past practice.

“It’s centrally located, which is going to make it a lot easier for us to transport the inmates,” he said of the facility. “This is going to be here for a long time, and it’s going to be a cost savings in the long run for the county.”

Another amenity is private conference rooms for defendants to speak with their attorneys.

Commissioner Jerry Echemann said the cost of purchasing and renovating the two buildings came to more than $12 million, which the county borrowed.

“The renovation was extensive. The building was gutted, so it was wiring, plumbing, the floors were torn up,” he said, pointing out security considerations and other demands of the justice center compared to the more straightforward upgrades to the lower building, which already houses the county board of elections and title offices.

He cited extensive cooperation among the three judges, the sheriff and the prosecutor’s office throughout the design phase and pointed out the dignified aesthetics of the new surroundings.

“We wanted it to look nice, which we think it does,” he said. “We’ve also moved out probation. We’ve got three or four offices for the probation department.”

“We’re proud of it. We’re happy that we’re going to move in here,” Echemann said.

The Belmont County Veterans Affairs office will move into the building that housed the Northern and Eastern courts in Bellaire. Plans for the courthouse annex in downtown St. Clairsville where Western court had been located have not been announced.