Numerous elected officials and court personnel gathered at the construction site of the new Barren County Judicial Center on Oct. 30. Michael Crimmins/Glasgow News 1
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Community members, both local and state elected officials, and court personnel gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony on the new Barren County Judicial Center, which will soon begin filling the currently empty lot off West Main Street.
Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Debra Hembree Lambert, who attended the ceremony, reminded attendees that the three-story, 58,000-square-foot facility will provide a safe, up-to-date space for people to do the work that’s instrumental. Kentucky Senator David Givens commented that roughly 95 percent of cases in the U.S. are handled by states’ courts.
“It’s during these times we realize just how important it is to have a safe place to do the foundational work of government…and [the local judges] are the ones you come before,” Lambert said. “This is going to be a building where a lot of work is done. You, as citizens of Barren County, need to have a good, safe facility in which to work and do the very important work that’s going to be done here.”
“When you think about what’s going to happen, and go on, in the building that’s going to be built here [it’s] the intersection of emotion and logic,” Givens added.
During the Project Development Board meeting on Oct. 29, Project Coordinator Dan Peffer said construction on the multi-million dollar judicial center would begin very soon, after some minor contractual corrections. Peffer said the contract should be finalized “any day now.”
“We’re there,” Peffer said.
“They’ll start as soon as they get the contract,” Barren County Judge-Execute Jamie Bewley Byrd said during the meeting.
The Kentucky General Assembly authorized the Barren County Judicial Center project in 2020 with a project cost of $50 million. Purchasing of the necessary property off West Main Street was finalized in late 2022 with site development for the judicial center began in 2023. The Joint City-County Planning Commission approved the preliminary design on June 19, 2024, according to prior reporting.
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