Officials approve new Springfield courthouse plans

Springfield is in the process of getting a new courthouse to replace the rodick Ireland courthouse downtown 22 News State ass reporter Olivia Ray joins us live in studio now with Massachusetts inspector General's concerns about this proposal that's right the rodri Ireland courthouse is linked to serious health concerns five Courthouse employees have died of ALS and 60 more have developed cancer State officials voted yesterday to approve a plan for a new building after years of complaints the process for constructing the new courthouse will include bidding from developers to work on the project the City of Springfield will then lease the building from the developer for at least 40 years Springfield's mayor Sarno is pushing for the courthouse to be located in the North Riverfront area Sno said in a statement to 22 News I appreciate and thank the board for their vote and I am glad the process to build the New state-of-the-art rodri Ireland Courthouse is moving forward some officials are concerned that the bidding process to select a developer may be unfair as multiple public officials have expressed interest in the North Riverfront site as a result the asset management board's decision was not unanimous Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro was the sole no vote I think that the public statements uh certainly have a chilling effect on competition and could U have an impact on other developers the Inspector General emphasized that a new courthouse is necessary but the state needs to be careful about how they partner with developers now mayor Sarno has told 22 News in the past that partnering with developers could significantly speed up the building process Olivia how long do these projects like this usually take and could the developer the state chooses change the length of construction time well the Inspector General is concerned that the officials public opinions could discourage other other qualified developers who may have their eyes on a different site from and from even entering a bid regardless of where it's located under this plan the courthouse is expected to be finished in 3 to 4 years obviously something that this has been a controversy for a long time now a lot of people asking for this replacement all right Olivia thank you thank you