BENTON COUNTY (KFSM) -- Benton county currently holds circuit court in three different buildings downtown: the historic courthouse, a leased building across the street and the old post office. However, that could soon be changing.
Benton County Judge Barry Moehring said creating a new courts facility that will hold all eight courtrooms under the same building is the county’s No. 1 priority.
“That creates significant issues for the public, for convenience, for efficiency," Moehring said. "We have three different points of security. We have to move inmates around to different facilities and, quite honestly, it’s just not an efficient, contemporary way to run a circuit court facility."
He said the facility will be built on 2nd Street in between northeast A and B Streets. He said they are figuring out how much of the lot they need to use and whether they can build the new building and leave the old post office intact.
“Today we just don’t know," he said. "We’re going to come up with the best design for the taxpayers of Benton County, and if we can preserve that building along the way, great. But if the design tells us we need that space, then we might have to make that hard decision at that time."
The post office was built in 1935 and served as a post office until the late '70s when the county needed to expand. The post office was moved to south Main Street. Before 1935, that space held the weather bureau. There were only six of these in the country, and Bentonville had one because of the apple industry.
Leah Whitehead, president of the Benton County Historical Society, said so many historic buildings have already been torn down, so they are hoping this one won’t have to be.
“We are diligently working to perhaps find something that could go in there that would contribute to the square and the history of Bentonville,” she said.
The county will start the design phase next week and they plan on that taking a few months. Judge Moehring said ideally, they will be able to start construction by the middle of next year.